Category: Android

Google Play Music updated. Offline music storage added

The Google Play Music app has received a bit of a refresh this morning. Download it and you’ll get KitKat SD card support, which gives offline music capability. Not only that, but there’s the ability to shuffle songs in the “All Access” feature and Google have made it …

Nexus 5 update to 4.4.1 now live

Improvements to the camera bugs are the focus this time around I’m really impressed with my Nexus 5, apart from one thing, the camera, don’t get me wrong the camera can take some quality photo’s, but it takes thought due to slow or sometimes two lots of focusing. …

Android, sailing across a chocolate sea

Are you wanting to get a mention on Coolsmartphone? Today is definitely a good day to email us, because things are a little quiet on the news front. This new KitKat advert shows the tie-in with Android and is a sign of things to come. How weird. This …

Windows Phone goes big – Vodafone launch Nokia Lumia 1520 in Black

Vodafone have launched the Nokia 1520 in black today, a full 3 days before Nokia’s initial statement suggested. This monstrous beast is the biggest Windows Phone ever, sporting a massive 6″ full HD display. You think the handset’s too big? You should see the price! If you want …

Accept card payments, using your smartphone

I like to show my family just how rich and successful I am, so just last week I was making use of a discount voucher in Pizza Hut. After gorging myself on large amounts of “endless salad” and “unlimited soft drinks” I was sadly too fat to walk …

Lenovo Ideatab S5000 review

Why haven’t Lenovo cracked the tablet market? After all, we all know that Lenovo make great laptops, so they know about portable computing. We also know that the likes of Acer and HP haven’t had much success either, so perhaps it’s not surprising. The Lenovo IdeaTab S5000 is …

Sky Go tablet now available

Sky Go is a free app that allows you to watch the channels you pay for on the go via wifi or 3/4G, previously the only tablets it had been available for were iPads. Now Sky have released a new version of the app specifically for Android tablets …

Successor to HTC One to launch in February??

What is considered by many to be the finest Android handset yet made, the HTC One, could be replaced as early as February revealed the Judge at the centre of the Nokia vs HTC case is to be believed (and being a member of the UK’s fine judiciary why …

CyanogenMod 10.2.0 hits final release status as development ceases

If you like a good custom ROM on your Android device, but don’t want to bother with all those buggy nightly releases, you’ll probably be looking forward to the final stable version of CyanogenMod 10.2 (their take on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean). The final release candidate has been …

HTC One mini banned in the UK after Nokia injunction

Thinking of buying a loved one an HTC One mini for Christmas? You’d better be quick, because as of 6th December they will be taken off the shelves after HTC lost a patent battle with Nokia today. Without getting too technical, there’s a chip in the HTC One …

Google release latest Android distribution chart

Fragmentation. It’s the bane of Android’s life. Not only that, but they have to publish the figures regularly so developers know what they have to account for when coding apps. There’s no hiding from it! This time around we see that KitKat makes an entry with only 1.1% …

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Lite to be released

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is many things, but one thing you can’t call it is lite. Well, not until next year anyway, because an industry ‘insider’ has confirmed to fellow tech site SamMobile that there will be a Note 3 variant with lower specs arriving next year. …

Sony Xperia SP down in price

Sure, it’s 2.30 in the afternoon and it’s going dark already, but you can at least cheer yourself up with a Cyber Monday deal on the Sony Xperia SP. We have a full Xperia SP review online already, detailing the 1.7GHz dual-core CPU, 8 megapixel shooter, 4.6″ display …

Two more colour variants of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 coming

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3, we’ve reviewed it here and there’s still plenty of deals kicking around where you can bag yourself a free tablet or a Galaxy Gear smartwatch when you buy one. Now Samsung have added a couple of new colours – Rose Gold White and …

Oppo N1 goes on Sale €499

Starting December 10th OPPO’s latest big flagship phone, the N1, will go on sale direct to consumers for $599 in the U.S. and €449 ( approx £370) in Europe. N1 is sporting a 5.9-inch 1080p display, a 1.7GHz Snapdragon 600 processor, 2GB of RAM and 16 or 32GB …

OPPO photo teaser shows shiny new phone

OPPO like to indulge in a bit of teasing. So, true to form the leak marketing department has released a rather tasty photo of what seems to be the rumoured R829T Android phone on the company’s Weibo page. Aside from it looking suspiciously like a Sony Xperia Z1, …

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 – Now less than £100

Normally Tesco sell the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 (in either white, red, black or gold brown) for £119 but, when you enter the special code TDX-NHW4 it’ll bring the cost down to just £99. The 7″ WiFi tablet has a 1.2GHz dual-core CPU, 50GB of Dropbox storage, 3 …

TV Anywhere from Virgin, now for Android

Just recently Sky added more channels to their Sky Go service. It brought the total amount of “watch anywhere” channels to 57, but Virgin have today blown them out of the water by launching their TV Anywhere app for Android devices which gives access to 67 channels across …

Hill Climb Racing now available on Windows Phone

Hill Climb Racing, the rather popular Android game that has seen over 50 million installs from Google Play has found its way onto Windows Phone. The game which is published by Fingersoft sees you take control of Newton Bill in order to get your vehicle as far along …

Lumia 2520 announced by Nokia

The Lumia 2520, the first Windows tablet from Nokia, has today been announced. Here in the UK there’s only one place to get it, and that’s through John Lewis from December 4th. The tablet includes 4G connectivity, a full HD 1920×1080 10.1″ screen, 2.2GHz quad-core CPU, 11 hours …

Cyanogenmod Installer app removed from Play Store

Some things never go smoothly, do they? Cyanogenmod posted on their blog last night that their Installer had been voluntarily removed from the Play Store after a Google request citing the fact that as it encouraged people to void their warranties which is against the Play Store policy. …

Facebook beta for Windows Phone update – tiles and notifications

Facebook Beta for Windows Phone has received one of its regular updates, and this one is a bit bigger than usual. Notifications and Messages have received big updates, with improved Toast notifications as well as Toast notifications for Messages/Chat. Tiles have also been redesigned, with a variety available, including …

Tesco Mobile offering the Moto G for £99

It’s sadly showing as unavailable when we click on the listing but, if you can find it, the Moto G is now just £99 at Tesco. If you’ve got 99 Clubcard points you can buy it that way but, for 99 quid, this is a steal. It comes …

Gionee Eliffe E7 hits China with a 16 megapixel cam

OK, you may not have heard of them, but they’re making a pretty bold claim. The Gionee Elife E7 is, according to Gionee, the best Android cameraphone on the market. Now, when I say “Android”, it’s a heavily tweaked version of Android called “Amigo 2.0″ and the Chinese …

Wallapop – Sell stuff free to your local area

At times eBay drives me round the bend. I’ll list something and, despite clearly showing UK delivery only, I’m bound to get people wanting me to post the item to Africa or to disclose the reserve price. Then they moan if you don’t send the item within 17 …

Samsung 4.4 rollout details leaked

The news that Samsung are working on updates to their latest devices in order to bring them into line with the newest Android version will come as a surprise to no one. What is a slight surprise is how quickly the updates are actually scheduled for release.   …

Nokia Lumia 525 now official

The budget Windows Phone handsets from Nokia seem to be doing rather well at the moment. This, then, is the next cheap Lumia – the 525. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pv7ijWuY8E It’s a follow-up to the Lumia 520 and has a 5 megapixel camera but no flash and no vanity camera up-front …

Be-Bound lets you stay connected out of data coverage

Are you one of those people who simply must be able to get online to read email? Or send a tweet? Is the mere thought of having no data coverage your worst nightmare? If so then the Be-Bound app, available on Android. might be just the thing. The …

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 S Charger – Review

Wireless charging is becoming something I look for in a new device, mainly down to ease of use. I’m lazy basically, just plonking down a phone onto a charging pad is easy, plugging a cable in is comparatively complicated and time consuming (if you add up all of …

Save our power buttons !

I was having a chat with a guy the other day. It was all a bit weird because he was in one cubicle and I was in another, but we ended up chatting about the power button on our Android phones. No, really. So anyway, you’re probably wondering …

Demand 5 comes to Windows Phone

I’m going to mention a couple of things that could send your head into a spin right now. First of all, it’s the sheer fact that people want to download an app which will let you re-watch Channel 5 programmes (such as … errr.. Neighbours and … ummm.. …

Spotify Connect, now on Android too

If you love your Spotify thing but want to stream your music over WiFi then… well, don’t. Just get yourself a Bluetooth speaker or something. What? What’s that? You’ve got yourself some flashy WiFi speakers from Pioneer or Bang & Olufsen? Pardon? You’ve got yourself a posh-looking Samsung …

Samsung Galaxy S4 Play Edition has a KitKat

The whole point of the Google Play edition handsets is the promise of timely updates. The HTC One GPe lived up to that promise with the news that the Android 4.4 Kitkat release is rolling out and now comes the news that the Samsung Galaxy S4 GPe is …

Have a break, have a KitKat on the Nexus 4

Are you a Nexus 4 owner who’s recently had the over the air (OTA) update to Android 4.4 KitKat? Listen up then, because there are reports cropping up around t’interweb complaining about errors affecting a whole array of functions. The issues range from the start button being a …

HTC One Play Edition gets an update

Following on from the recent announcement of the latest incantation of Android, version 4.4 Kitkat, the Google Play Edition of HTC’s flagship handset is receiving it’s OTA update. Multiple sources have said that the update is rolling out now and weighs in at over 300mb so if you …