Author: James Pearce
Last week at MWC Microsoft announced that Facebook Messenger would be coming to the Windows Phone Store soon, we all took that with a pinch of salt, expecting the “soon” bit to mean months. But lo and behold during the night Facebook themselves have published the app. If …
Kazam have appeared in the last few months, offering some cheap devices with dual SIM slots and a few extra quirks. The company was formed by two ex HTC UK staff so they know a thing or two about phones. The Trooper 4.0 is their entry level model …
I’ve fancied a change for a while now, something totally different, a change of OS, a change of apps, processes, gestures, hardware and even size. I don’t know what’s happened to me, my normal daily setup of a Nokia Lumia 1020 and a Nexus 5 just isn’t doing …
MWC is over and done with for another year and once again it’s given us a whole lot of stuff to talk about. Dan and Leigh were out there this week covering every last tiny detail, so you can probably guess who this weeks special guest is. Yes …
A few months ago I posted an article about the Motorola RAZR i and the possibility that it would get updated to KitKat (it’s here if you’re interested) and it received quite a bit of interest as owners of the Intel Atom equipped Razr i were hoping to …
LG have really made a name for themselves in the mobile space, the Optimus G, G Pro, G2 and G Flex have really marked LG as a decent manufacturer. Well over at MWC they’ve been awarded the Most Innovative Device Manufacturer of the Year by the GSMA. It’s not …
The HTC One was and is a cracking phone, which is rumoured to get a whole lot better very soon. Over at MWC HTC have picked up an award for the HTC One, it scooped the Global Mobile Award for Best Smartphone. So well done HTC, let’s just …
Communities are a great thing, sharing ideas, thoughts, articles, images and more online with like minded people. It’s good wholesome fun. How about if you could win prizes for doing just that? Well Windows Phone fan site WinPhan.net are holding a competition that allows you to do just …
LG have a few ranges of devices, the premium G range and the cheaper more budget orientated L range and now they’ve announced a new device the strangely named F70. It comes with all of the software features of the G2 Spec wise it is pretty basic and …
The LG G2 is a cracking phone that many people have been wondering when it will be updated to KitKat, well LG have answered that by saying mid March. They’ve also made a video showing the speed differences in the UI. With the KitKat OS upgrade, the LG …
Firefox OS hasn’t really made much of an impact since its appearance the other year, yet that doesn’t stop me being intrigued by it. Geeksphone the Spanish phone manufacturer have pushed out several models now all running Firefox OS and with their latest model they seem to have …
Episode 81 of the podcast is basically our MWC preview show, as we’ve got Dan on this week who will be jetting off tomorrow to Barcelona. Also joining me this week were Ronnie and Kev. And yes Kev is our special guest, Kev Wright is from the Tech …
Google and Asus with the Nexus 7 tablets have really tipped the whole Android tablet market on its head. They showed the world that you didn’t need a fancy skin and premium materials to make a decent tablet, you just needed reasonable materials and non cluttered software oh …
Earlier on in the week Acer teased us with an image from the rear of an unannounced phone. We covered that here but it seemed they were going to wait until MWC before they actually showed the world what it was. No, they’re not waiting, they’ve gone and …
MWC is so close you can almost smell it and manufacturers are releasing information beforehand to save themselves time next week. ZTE are one of these and they’ve sent us information about two new devices. The ZTE Grand Memo LTE and the Firefox OS equipped Open C. Adam …
Me and phone cases have a colourful history, I swing from wanting a huge super protective case with a built in screen protector, through to a slimline but cushioned case and even some days I go a bit mad and use a phone naked. My Note 3 is …
Acer have posted an image on Google+ saying that they will reveal “must have new products” at MWC. Judging by the image they posted it looks like a phone with a rear power button. It’s certainly intriguing, it’s nice to see upcoming manufacturers trying things out, you just …
Episode 80 of our podcast marks my return. Yes I’m back from my skiing trip and we’ve even managed to get ourselves a special guest this week. Joining me this week were Ian Furlong, Ronnie Whelan and Steve Litchfield (from All About Windows Phone). The topics this week …
Aviate is one of the clever predictive launchers that try to guess where you are, what apps you’re going to use and now with the latest update that gets a little bit more clever. We’ve hit the ground running here at Yahoo and have been listening attentively to …
The Nokia Lumia Icon is something I and many others have been waiting for, mainly because it is basically a shrunk down Lumia 1520. Although there is a catch, the Lumia Icon is probably never going to make it to our shores. What most non US residents are hoping …
I’ve got too many laptops and tablets lying around at home at the moment and I’ve been on the lookout for a bag that’ll allow me to safely store 3 or 4 devices plus cables accessories. I’ve often looked at STM bags in the past, so when I …
Late last year in Abu Dhabi Nokia announced a range of new devices including the rather large 6″ Lumia 1320 and Lumia 1520, when I first saw them I thought “wow, they look amazing, I need them asap”. After a few months of reading early reviews and seeing …
The rumours surrounding a Nokia tablet have been floating around the web for a while now, the big questions for me were always how big will it be and what operating system will it run. Well late last year those questions were answered and now we have the …
Episode 78 of the Coolsmartphone Podcast will be spent trying to get our heads around the Motorola Lenovo deal and some other things of course. Joining me this week were Ian Furlong, Ronnie Whelan and Jon Love our special guest from Clove.co.uk. This weeks topics were quite varied ranging …
Now and again you come across some crazy news on the internet and today is one of those times. Lenovo are apparently in the final stages of buying the Google owned Motorola mobility for $2.9 Billion having bought it for $12.5 Billion in 2011. On the face of …
The rear buttons on the LG G2 and the G Flex have divided the nation. Many say they are a gimmick, that they are non intuitive and that they get in the way of the camera lense. Those who have actually used them for more than a minute …
Episode 77 of the Coolsmartphone Podcast is another guest week. Joining me this week were Dan, Iain and Brendan. That’s Brendan Arndt from Three. Yes that guy from the product videos. This weeks topics were Samsung Galaxy S5 and the new UI. HTC at MWC. LG and the …
Don’t you just hate it when you hand your phone to a friend to have a look at a picture you’ve taken and they then start looking through the rest of your shots? Well there’s an app for that now. Focus photo sharing deals with this exact problem. …
The wearable device market is hotting up. What with SmartWatches, fitness wristbands and eyewear being the current favourites. Garmin the well known and long established GPS device manufacturer have branched out into the fitness wristband arena. Which isn’t too far from the GPS watches they’ve been making for …
The Acer Liquid Z5 Duo is another budget spec dual SIM device from Acer, that runs their fancy UI on top of Android allowing you a variety of different Windows Phone style launchers plus the standard Android one. It’s also a big 5″ model this time round. The …
You might have heard of the HTC One, it was our joint winner in the phone of the year for 2013 and HTC continue to sell it in an ever increasing number of colours, the latest being gold. – 4.7 inch 1080×1920 touch screen for outstanding professional immersion …
Social media is a big thing these days, finding a way to fit Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Google+ into the working day without contravening the workplace rules is sometimes a struggle. But we’ve sussed the latest social media craze and we now have an account on Google+. …
We all love a good phone case or tablet cover right? There is nothing better than having an official case on your device as well right? Even when they are ridiculously expensive right? Personally I’d say no, sometimes manufacturers take their official accessories a little too seriously and …
Budget Android phone. Those three words for many years have basically meant that somewhere in the phone there will be a compromise. A compromise that was so badly thought out you’d think it was made by a child or a large rock. Over the years many many many …
Today, ZTE and Virgin Media have announced the apparently “hotly anticipated” ZTE Blade Q series in the UK. The 4’’ ZTE Blade Q Mini will be available to purchase initially with Argos from today from £59.99. It will be available with Sainsbury’s at a later date. At such a …
Episode 76 of our podcast can only mean one thing, yes it means we have a guest on this week. Joining me this was special guest Gary Weldon (@UbuntuBhoy) and our podcast regulars Dan and Ian. This weeks topics were as follows: March of the Droids 2014. The Motorola …
When Xbox Music arrived on Windows Phone the other year I was a big fan, it offered what other subscription music streaming services offered and it had the benefit of working on my Surface and my Xbox. The only problem was using on my Android devices, the lack …
A bad gallery app can leave you struggling to find a photo or struggle to share it to your chosen Cloud Storage. The stock AOSP gallery app is a bit basic and manufacturers like HTC or Samsung create their own versions. Cyanogenmod has shipped with the AOSP gallery, …
The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is a great device, but recently I’ve been choosing to use my Nexus 5 instead of it. Why you ask? Well KitKat on the Nexus 5 just feels nicer and smoother than Jellybean on the Note 3. I’m in luck as Samsung have …
The Coolsmartphone Podcast is back, we’ve all had our annual Christmas break and we’re here to mumble and um and er for an hour. Joining me this week was Ronnie Whelan and our topics this week were as follows. Our favourite phones, tablets and manufacturers for 2013. The …
