Category: Android

LG Optimus GJ will continue the waterproof trend

It was only a few days ago that we saw what will be the second high end waterproof phone the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active and now it seems that LG want a slice of the waterproof pie as well. LG has announced a waterproof smartphone, called the Optimus …

HTC announce dual sim Desire 600

HTC have just announced a new dual-sim phone for certain markets including Russia and Ukraine running Android and featuring the BlinkFeed we have seen on the recent and popular HTC One It is a shame we will not be seeing the Desire 600 here in the UK as a …

HTC in crisis – Daniel Lazarides to leave

Another day, another story about the continuing and rapid changes in HTC. We’re now up to the ninth resignation from the top-ranking staff, and it comes from Daniel Lazarides, Worldwide Communications Lead for Social Marketing at HTC. He is actually based here in the UK and used to …

The fire storm at HTC continues

Something really bad is happening at HTC. The America office is rapidly emptying as Directors, Vice Presidents and Managers depart with alarming speed. We already know that the following people have left or are reported to have left.. – Eric Lin, Product Strategy Manager – John Starkweather, Director …

Free Sony Xperia Z with Sony Bravia televisions

If you’re looking for a new TV and like the sound of free stuff, the this Sony offer may be just what you’re looking for. As of tomorrow, if you buy a Sony Bravia W9 46-inch or 55-inch telly you will get a Sony Xperia Z for absolutely …

Three dish up some cheap May deals

Fancy saving some money? Who doesn’t eh? Right now Three have chopped down the cost of the Sony Xperia T, Nokia Lumia 620 and Samsung Galaxy Ace. It’s purely for this month, but you can get all three on Pay As You Go and ther Xperia T is …

Samsung Galaxy S4 – Get £30 off

Keep this between yourselves, but we’ve got a special code if you’re thinking of getting the Samsung Galaxy S4. The S4, which we reviewed here, is now as low as £549.99 unlocked. If you’re interested, head to the links below and use SG430 at the checkout to get …

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 is now available

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 is an interesting device, as an 8″ device with the S-Pen it intrigues me, yet the slightly mediocre spec and the usual selection of Samsung software also appeals/worries me. The Galaxy Note 8.0 hasn’t exactly been pushed as much as the S4 and …

Picture special – Huawei Ascend Mate

Woaha. Remember the Huawei Ascend Mate that we saw in Barcelona? Well, I’ve got one. It pushes the term “phablet” as close to “tablet” as you can get. The screen is a 6.1″ 1280×720 IPS unit and the handset itself is pretty huge. Specs include an 8 megapixel …

Galaxy Mega 6.3 up for pre-order with delivery in July

“Are they big? I like them big… BIG!” The Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 is on its way, and you could be one of the first in the country to be lugging around this massive handset, because two major internet retailers have them up for pre-order. Expansys are asking …

Are you heading to Skegness this bank holiday?

Bank holidays seem to make people gather in groups. Big groups around the country, be it country parks, beaches, the capital city or just down the pub. But where is our favourite place for the bank holiday? Well that’s quite a hard one to quantify, you’d need to …

Tapatalk, get it free right now

If you’ve visited a forum such as ours then you’ll probably have seen the Tapatalk app pop up. It’s usually a paid-for app but, if you download it via the Amazon store right now then it’s free. The Tapatalk Forum App will make most forums a much easy …

Samsung Galaxy S4 Active leaked

Having a waterproof phone is increasingly becoming something that people want these days. For a few months it was just Sony with this trick up their sleeve. Samsung sell a phone for every conceivable niche of the mobile market. From tiny handed people through to giants they make …

One on a mountain top. Video call from Everest

A video call isn’t, despite what Apple might tell you, that special. I remember my mate showing me a 3G video call on the Three network a decade ago so being able to see the person you’re calling isn’t a big deal. Well, unless you’re on top of …

Samsung Push Service gets some interesting reviews on Google Play

I usually skim over the comments / reviews but when checking apps in the Google Play. Usually they’re full of comments like “d0esn’t work”, “uninstalled as this is cr*p” or just one-word responses like “Great” or “Nice”. So it’s interesting to see the comments that have popped up …

8-inch Samsung Galaxy 3 Tablet Specs, Press Photo Leaked

SamMobile has reportedly acquired a press photo and possible specs for an upcoming 8-inch version of the Samsung Galaxy 3 tablet. It looks nearly identical to the 7.0 version that was officially announced at the end of April save for a thinner bezel and a different sensor layout. …

All in the numbers: 4.2.2 coming to HTC One

Yes, The One is a contender for this years best Android smartphone, and yes, its been stuck on 4.2 since it came out, but there have been rumblings on the interwebs that all that is about to change. @LlabTooFeR, who is an HTC ROM developer happened to let …

Google I/O – Google Maps updated

Out with the old and in with the new. Of course Google should shed some love on their Maps application and its a rather interesting update indeed. They claim it’s “rebuilt from the ground up” with a lot of new features to give the locations you search some …

Samsung Galaxy S4 sales set to pass 10 million

The S4 seems to be selling a lot faster than the S3. Samsung Electronics co-CEO Shin Jong-kyun has told reporters that the S4 will fly past 10 million sales at the end of next week, making it the fastest selling smartphone in Samsung’s history. A huge advertising campaign …

HTC to increase production volume of the One

HTC has reportedly been struggling to make the HTC One quick enough. Mainly due to supply constraints with the camera module. In a recent report in Taiwan, Jack Tong the president of HTC North Asia said the following: “Our capacity is expected to rise significantly starting from mid-May. …

Sony Xperia Z tablet gets a taste of AOSP

People bang on about pure Android quite a bit these days. With some people refusing to buy a device not running stock Android. Hence the “success” of the Nexus range. But what other options are there if you want a stock Android tablet? Especially a super thin waterproof …

Images of the Sony Xperia UL leak out

Sony are heading along a rather dodgy path, making dozens of different handsets each year. Only Samsung can really cope with the financial implications of doing that. It’s why HTC have decoded to try and stick to one device per year. But who am I to warn Sony …

NEC Medias X: The First Smartphone With Liquid Cooling

Liquid cooling?  Old news matey.  Well for us PC Power Users (loving that term) who are always looking to make our PCs go faster than they’re originally make to do, at the price of heat (and the insides of your PCs don’t like getting all toasty).  Liquid cools …

Vodafone Smart III is now available

The Vodafone Smart range are at the budget end of the Smartphone market. Not everyone wants the latest and greatest device and not everyone wants to spend a whole load of cash each month either. That’s where the Smart III comes in with it’s basic spec and budget …

Friday Deals – World of Goo is proper cheap

How about 80% off. 80% off! That’s like…err… almost free. Well, almost. “Game of the Year”, World of Goo is now just 65p. You have to drag and drop globs of goo in order to build things. Yes, this is a bit hard to explain, but there’s a …

New Xperia Z firmware rolling out

The Xperia Z is a great handset. Sure, there’s always a bit of confusion when you argue with your American friends about the name (it’s the “Xperia Zed” or “Xperia Zee” depending on where you are) but both this and the Xperia Tablet Z are really impressive. Right …

Friday Deals – SwiftKey half price

Let’s save a bit of money shall we? Deals are great, so today we’re having a hunt for deals. First, if you’re finding that entering texts or writing emails is a bit fiddly on your Android phone, try SwiftKey. It’ll speed up your typing and learns words as …

White Nexus 4 and Android 4.3 to be released 10th June

Time once more for White Nexus 4 News! Yes, another one has been spotted, this time at Google IO. There were no announcements made about the white Nexus 4 during Google’s keynote at IO, but one was seen on the premises by Taylor Wimberly from Android and Me. …

Google Hangouts – now featuring SMS?

The dust is settling after the rather long keynote at Google I/O yesterday and as things start to rollout we can start to examine things in a little more detail. One of the big enhancements to the Google ecosystem is the rehashing of Google Hangouts. This unification of …

Google Babel launches as the new Hangouts

  Google finally took the wraps of Babel yesterday with the relaunch of Hangouts, a cross-platform unified messaging service to take on the likes of iMessage, Facebook Chat and WhatsApp. Users no longer have to contend with separate Google Talk, G+ Messenger, G+ Hangouts and Google Voice apps. …

Google announces Galaxy S4 Nexus Edition

One of the bigger surprises announced by Google at yesterday’s I/O keynote was the release of a Nexus-like stock Galaxy S4. Gone is all the nasty TouchWiz S-rubbish, replaced by the beautiful vanilla Android experience. We’re also told we can expect a Nexus-like update schedule.  As someone who …

Google Play Books is updated

As part of Google updating everything last night they updated the Play Books app. Not only have Google updated the interface to be in-line with the other Google Play apps they have also added some new features. What’s in this version: Support for reading your own PDF or …

Google I/O 2013 – LIVE

Use this, not the previous two articles! Google I/O is once again being hosted in the Moscone Centre in San Francisco. The annual developers shindig hosted by Google is due to kick off at 5pm BST and we here at Coolsmartphone are proud to bring you a liveblog …

Acer Cloud Mobile, super cheap and definitely worth a look

Times are hard. Just last week I had to downsize my second home to a condo in the Caribbean. Ohhhh the shame of it. If you’re looking to switch to a SIM only deal and get yourself a decent cheapo smartphone, have a look at the Acer Cloud …

Customer Support the right way

Sunday night bought with it a sheer sense of unhappiness. I was having issues connecting to the Wi-Fi at work (not an unusual occurrence!) so I tried to reboot my Nexus 4.  The power button having been pressed, off the device powered. I pressed the Power button once again …

Issentiel Leather Nexus 4 case – Review

I own an LG Nexus 4, so as you could imagine I am always concerned I’ll damage it. Not so much because it’s fragile, but because it looks so nice I don’t want to spoil it. I have a ‘bumper’ for it but it just doesn’t feel like it’s going …