Author: Ian Furlong
Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has now signed a law due to come into force in November banning technologies which allow users access to banned websites. These sites are on a list which has been created by the Russian government and extends to virtual private networks (VPN’s) and proxies. …
Following on from my Venturer Saturn Pro 10 review, I’m now moving on to review the latest budget tablet from RCA/Ventruer the Mercury 7L. As it is currently priced at £49.99, the Mercury 7L is a direct competitor to the Amazon Fire tablet (which I take with me …
I don’t know if you agree with me on this one, but do we need yet another messaging app? Well if the rumours are correct, the retail giant Amazon believes that we do. The company has reportedly been sending customers surveys relating to a new messaging service called “Anytime”. …
Last year we had a play with the flic buttons for the first time, now we take another look to see how they have changed. The conversation went something like this Ian, would you like to review a button? A button? Yes but it’s a smart-button. Oooo a …
Back in June, we wrote a quick post about some new Android tablets destined for our shores, these being the RCA Saturn 10 Pro and the Mercury 7L. They’re said to be some of the best Android tablets around so I’ve been sent both devices through for …
Remember the Nokia devices of old? The ones equipped with the high quality Zeiss lenses? Together the two combined their skills to produce devices that could take stunning images. Take the 808 PureView for example, a device that still struggles to be beaten even next to the smartphones …
Remember back in 2014 when the Yotaphone was launched with its innovate design by having an e-ink display on the back of the device? Unfortunately, the device never caught on along with the next iteration – the Yotaphone 2. Well today, Oaxis has announced the latest in its family of E-Ink …
According to VentureBeat, the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is going to be the most expensive Samsung phone to date. The 6.3″ device is rumoured to have the same edge-to-edge, 18.5:9 aspect ratio, AMOLED infinity display as in the Galaxy S8. The Galaxy Note 8 is rumoured to be …
Britsh broadcaster Sky has announced that their Sky Q 2 TB boxes will soon be updated in order to be able to record six shows at once, while you can watch a seventh. Now if by some miracle there is actually seven things on at the same time …
Following the successful launch of its 2-in-1 affordable Windows notebooks here in the UK, premium audio and video manufacturer Venturer (both of which I have reviewed here and here) have announced a new range of Android tablets under the RCA branding. RCA is a name new to us …
Right, I will come right and say this I am old. I can remember a time before the internet, before mobile phones and before the home computer had been invented ! I remember when gaming well that was something you did outside with your mates. I have been …
I’ve been sent through the latest sports designed headphones from iClever, the BTH20 in ear headphones. Good Points: Incredibly light. Very comfortable. Excellent value for money. Good sound quality. Well designed. Water resistant. Bad Points: Controls on the right side. Wire routed to the front rather than the …
Here at the Coolsmartphone newsroom (which to be honest is normally a kitchen) we’ve heard rumours that the latest version of the Netflix app is showing as incompatible with rooted devices. Netflix has just confirmed that with the v5.0 update adds some special.. ahem .. “new features”. They’ve …
Last year I carried out a review of a new Android TV streaming box called the Probox 2 Air. You can view it here, which in summary, I was truly impressed with. Well, I’ve been asked if I wanted to review the latest version of this streaming box – …
Here at the Coolsmartphone hive of activity, a number of our writers use Chromebooks. I and the editor-in-chief Leigh use them predominately – I must use my Asus Flip easily 95% of the time. The Chromebook has been a runaway success, with it being an inexpensive device with a …
ABC News is reporting on a woman in Wisconsin who’s been the victim of another exploding device. This time it’s a fitness tracker, and happened whilst the wearer – Dina Mitchell – was sitting reading a book. The Fitbit Flex 2 caught fire and explode, causing burns to her …
Well, it very much appears that Samsung is rising like the phoenix from of the ashes of the Note 7. (Did you see what I did there?) The Note 7 disaster now seems to be far from customers minds, with virtually no impact on customer confidence with the …
Someone who is far braver than I am over at IHS Markit decided to get hold of the latest flagship from Samsung the Galaxy S8 and take it apart to have a look-see what’s inside. While ferking around, they have decided to do a quick cost breakdown of …
According to the Wall Street Journal tech giant Google is mulling over the idea to add a native ad blocker to the Google Chrome browser. It’s a strange move you might think, considering Google’s primary source of income is advertising, but Google say this is to provide …
In the past if you wanted to get your hands on 3 of Apple’s biggest software packages; namely, iMovie, GarageBand, and iWorks (which includes Pages. Numbers and Keynote), there were two ways. The owners of older Apple devices i.e. pre-2013 had to purchase the apps from the App …
We are used to hearing news that more people are accessing the web on a mobile device rather than a desktop. However, a new and somewhat significant milestone has been passed, this being that Android’s internet use has overtaken Windows PC’s. According to StatCounter the Android platform represented 37.93% …
According to a statement released by Samsung Mobile, some of the ill-fated Galaxy Note 7 devices will be sold as refurbished devices. Samsung also has plans to salvage each other components such as cameras and semiconductors. In addition, they intend on extracting the metal parts from the remaining …
If the rumor mill is to be believed, and take it from me it’s in full swing, the reveal of the latest Samsung flagship the Galaxy S8 is less than a week away. And to be honest, it’s pretty hard not to have seen a leak of the …
According to an email being sent out by Google, Hangouts SMS integration will stop working after May 22, 2017. The company will presumably roll out an update on the day that will disable the SMS integration functionality on the app. Google will start showing an in-app notification to …
Right back in 2008 I got my hands on my first Android device, the fantastic T-Mobile G1. One application stood out above all the rest – Google Maps. Back then it was just a very simple mapping tool giving users a fairly simple view of the world. Google …
A short time ago I carried out a review of the EliteWin S 11KT mini 2-in-1 notebook. It was also created by Venturer, and you can view the full review here. Now the company have sent me through the their latest device, the PrimePro 12TS Good Points: Good …
Using a battery powered device on a flight? It’s not just phones you need to be concerned with. In Australia authorities are now issuing warnings for powered headphones. It comes after a passenger on a Beijing to Melbourne flight suffered burns and blisters as her headphones exploded mid-flight. …
We’re approaching the rumoured Samsung Galaxy S8 flagship announcement, so here we go with some more Galaxy S8 info for the faithful and eager. This is currently believed to be March 29th with a date for pre-orders on the 10th of April. As usual, the internet is now …
Following the Brexit vote last year, it appears that Microsoft has jumped on the “Let’s hike the prices in the UK and blame Brexit bandwagon“. It always intrigued me that in the past when we had a strong pound, we had the 1 dollar = 1 pound pricing. …
If you are an avid reader of our site, you’ll know that us here at Coolsmartphone Towers love a good bargain. And whenever we find one, we like to pass it on. Well, check out low-cost carrier GiffGaff, which runs on the O2 network. Customers purchase bundles which …
Despite it being law for a number of years, people are still continuing to use their phone whilst driving. The RAC has released some rather worrying statistics from a recently commissioned survey. There’s been an increase in drivers owning up to using a handheld mobile phone – from …
The grand-master of the phone leakers, Evan Blass, has just dropped this little nugget on Twitter. It’s the new Galaxy S8 from Samsung.. When I say “it”, there’s actually going to be two phones. Gone are the navigation buttons you’ve grown used to in previous Samsung Galaxy handsets …
Remember some time ago we brought you the news that finally, Netflix was allowing customers to download some of their content and store it to the device? The good news is that the latest update to the media streaming app allows content to be stored on the SD …
A short time ago we reported that Cyanogen as a company would be shedding considerable staff. They were also closing buildings with some of the team moving to a single location. The new CEO, Lior Tal, announced the company would cutting ties with co-founder Steve Kondik too. Now Cyanogen …
My wife currently works as a customer service assistant in a local town. While she was working last week, she could hear a commotion outside in the street. A member of the public came running into to her office, screaming for help and requesting a fire extinguisher stating …
Some time ago I decided to cancel my current satellite TV subscription. To be honest I thought the monthly fee was extortionate and decided to go along the “cable cutters route”. I found that I could get nearly all, if not all of the content I wished to …
Remember about three years ago when retail giant Amazon announced that it was going to deliver your parcels by air, using drones? Oh how we giggled. Well, that day has just drawn a step closer. Following a trial in Cambridge, the company has completed the first Amazon Prime …
Of all the smartwatches on the market, Pebble is my favourite. I backed the original pebble on Kickstarter and have bought every one since, including the latest Pebble 2 with heart rate. You can have a look at my review here. I have backed the newest Pebble Time 2 …
Online retail giant Amazon has decided to do away with any kind of checkout process in a new store. Customers will instead show their phone when they walk in, pick up their goods and just walk off. Grabbing anything off the shelves, stuffing it in your bag and walking out. …
Remember all those years ago when you’ve got your first email account and you couldn’t wait to set it up with a stupid account name? Now, many years later, it’s quite embarrassing having to pass those details to any prospective employers, hospitals or friends. So what do you …
