Category: Android

The Huawei P30 Series expands. Welcome, the P30 Lite.

Yes, it looks a bit like the Honor 10 lite but this is actually the new Huawei handset and, like the upcoming Honor 20 Series, Huawei have a numbered series of handsets too.. errmm.. and this is the P30 Series. Confused yet? Well, following the excellent P30 Pro …

New HONOR 20 Series incoming

The naming convention is getting me a little confused this early on a Monday morning. We’ve already had the excellent Honor View20, which I reviewed here and loved. Now, though, it looks like there’ll be more “20 Series” phones coming soon. Honor have put out this launch notification …

Another look at the Huawei P20

Yes, the P20. Sure, I know that the P30 and the P30 Pro are the new kids on the block, but let’s not forget just how good the P20 is. Dan reviewed it last year and was mightily impressed, however now you’re going to see it get a …

Is the death knell sounding for Google Play Music ?

On 30th April this year, Google is planning to close down the “Artist Hub” of the Google Play Music service. “What’s the Artist Hub?” I hear those of you who use Google Play Music ask. The Artist Hub is a tool that allows smaller/independent artists to stream and …

Get your P30 and P30 Pro at Vodafone right now

So, you like the look of the P30 handsets? Well, head to the overview from Dan if you’re wanting to know more about it. However, as mentioned on my network comparison piece you can get it on Vodafone too. They’re going to be pimping the Red Entertainment plans, …

Huawei P30 Pro – My first week

Intro So it’s been just over a week now since I got back from Paris, and more importantly the Huawei P30 Pro launch I was invited along too with Huawei and some other journalists/bloggers. Having been using a Mate 20 Pro since the launch event at the end …

Pixel 2 & 2 XL official sales cease

If you are hankering after last year’s Google flagship from official channels i.e. Google’s own page, well it appears this can longer be done. If you pop over to the Google Store and search for either the Pixel 2 or the Pixel 2 XL, the devices are no …

Honor UK changes to Honour UK?

How long have we mentioned this eh? I suggested it to the Huawei bosses when I was in China and we asked them again on our podcast… Joking aside – that was a question we asked when we interviewed them for the CSP podcast. — John M (@GreyingGeekJohn) …

Reno by Oppo a new take on the front camera

According to internet Slashleaks, the Chinese device manufacturer Oppo’s latest device named “Reno” has a new take on the front-facing camera. Like some others, the Reno has a pop up front camera, but the Reno’s unique front camera design means that the camera will apparently fit into a …

The Samsung Galaxy Fold bend test. Strangely hypnotic.

That clever folding Samsung smartphone looks beautiful, no denying that. However, deep down we’re all thinking, “Surely it’s going to develop a crease or crack somehow?” I tend to use my wallet as an example. It’s got folds and stretches all over it so, despite what my head …

Say hello to the Samsung Galaxy A70

The fairly random “A range” of Samsung devices don’t usually get the same level of coverage as the Galaxy S handsets, so let’s take a look at the new Samsung Galaxy A70 which was announced yesterday. This one has a 6.7″ FHD+ (1080×2400) Super AMOLED Infinity display with …

Huawei P30 and P30 Pro – Deals and opinion

OK, so after the leaks we got a look at the P30 and the P30 Pro from Huawei here in Paris. As we expected, there’s a clever camera setup with a 10x zoom. The P30 Pro gets a Leica Quad Main Camera, whilst the P30 has a Leica …

Huawei announce P30 Series in Paris

Huawei have today announced the brand new P30 Series here in Paris and both devices come with a very impressive set of specifications. The headline of the two is of course the Huawei P30 Pro which takes mobile photogrophy to another level thanks to the improved four camera …

Samsung Galaxy S10 Range – Hands on

Right, if you’re at the end of a contract or thinking about buying an additional phone, the Galaxy S10 range could well be on your radar. We’ve covered all the Galaxy phones during Mobile World Congress, but I think it’s worth looking again at the hands-on overview we …

EE to take the Samsung Galaxy Fold

It’s not the Mate X. Not yet anyway, but EE have now picked up the Samsung Galaxy Fold and will be selling it here in the UK very soon. EE will have the network exclusive, while Samsung will be making the Fold available on the Samsung Online Shop …

Another leak, another peek. The Huawei P30

The launch is literally hours away now, but we’ve already had a really good look at the phone courtesy of the Huawei website itself. The particular page where the beans were spilled has now gone offline, but we know that there’s a Super Sensing Leica Quad Camera, a …

Want to know about the Huawei P30 Series? Well, here you are…

I’m a little confused by this one, because I’ve just spotted a whole load of stuff about the yet-to-be-announced Huawei P30 Series. It’s to be revealed at a very posh launch event in Paris on Tuesday next week (March 26th). Trouble is, Huawei themselves have already revealed the …

Get yourself a virtual personal trainer

Wanna get fit? Well, you could join a gym, but that can be pricey (I’m looking at you David Lloyd Leisure.. £100 a month!? Waahh??). So today marks the launch of, according to Kaia Health the “world’s first virtual personal trainer”. It uses unique motion tracking technology to …

Enjoy the full experience of Fortnite

If you’re a Fortnite fan, then you’ll probably be aware of a few things. First, the buzz around this game just doesn’t seem to fade. It’s still as popular as it always was and now, with the addition of Android and iPhone versions plus cross-platform multi-player, it’s taken …

A fun way to get your kids brushing properly.

Kids love sweets, so ensuring that they’re brushing their teeth regularly is key. You can’t always monitor this, so PlayBrush is a great way to create a solid dental cleaning routine. Instead of making brushing teeth a chore, the 2 minutes task can now be made fun thanks …

More time with the Mate X and 5G news

I have been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to get a little bit more hands-on time with the Huawei Mate X. I thought I would take some time to give you my initial thoughts. Before I dive into that first thoughts I must remind you that …

Amazing new Google Walking AR directions heading your way

I’ll be honest, this popped up the internet last month but we were a little busy with Mobile World Congress at the time. This, then, is what you can hopefully expect to see on your Google Maps in a few months time. Right now it’s only available to …

Samsung OneUI Impressions

Whilst most people concentrate on the hardware side of a smartphone with their key set of specifications and unique selling points, the software experience fen be just as important as that is the part you use to control everything on your phone. Samsung had a rough couple of …

Bored on your commute?

My journey to work has got longer recently. This, I’ll confess, perhaps wasn’t my best career decision in terms of time away from the family. Luckily, thanks to the mobile tech we now carry around in our pockets, train journeys in particular can pass by quite quickly. I …

Android Q Beta has landed

With Google I/O not far away now, it’s the time of year where Android fans get to try out the latest update. It’s also the time to start the naming guessing game! Today the first version of Android Q has been made available for Pixel owners to download …

Three roll out their own Brexit bus

OOoohh… bit dangerous this. Driving a bus round with promises written on the side. How much do we believe that ? 🙂 So, whilst Parliament goes into a full-on meltdown about a Brexit which nobody can agree on, Three have driven up and down the road outside to …

We’re all over your social media… plus, PODCAST NEWS!

Apparently people quite like this whole Facebook thing, so do join us on our official Coolsmartphone page. You can join in, share and follow all our news stories, reviews and tips on your social media feed. It’s great! Come on, join the fun! Don’t forget that we’re all …

Stricter rules for smartphone gambling introduced

It’s that time of year again when the Cheltenham Festival comes to town. This, like the Grand National, marks the time when people will be tempted to take a cheeky flutter on the horses. Indeed, if you’re using an Android phone, you’ll have no doubt seen an uptick …

Dell Chromebook 11″ 2-in-1 – Review

I have always liked Chromebooks, as they offer a lot of computing power and bang for your cash. Dell has been making these laptops for while, and in this latest iteration of the Chromebook 11″ they have taken the skills they have learned from the enterprise range and …

Mobile Bingo – Where To Play?

I was sitting down this morning, straight from the school run, being subjected to the car-crash TV that is the “Jeremy Kyle” show. It’s sponsored by a Bingo website and it got me pondering, because it’s making bingo a more approachable and acceptable pastime due to it being …

Instagram is a child grooming hotspot

The NSPCC has today revealed that sex offenders are grooming more children on Instagram more than any other online platform. In 32% of the recorded police incidents, Instagram was used to send sexual communication. It was closely followed by Facebook, which was used in 23% of the tim. …

MWC – Doogee S90 shown off

Just before I left MWC I was able to see one last phone and this was one that I was particularly interested in. It is from a company called Doogee, which is a Chinese brand that has been specialising in making ruggedised phones. They have been doing this for a while …

MWC – Cosmo Communicator and Gemini Updates

Last year we had the pleasure of being introduced a new device to the market in the form of the Gemini, which I was able to put through its paces in an extensive test for a few weeks. I was very impressed by it but unfortunately, with it …

MWC – Huawei P30 Pro appears

A strange one this. The upcoming P30 Pro flagship, which hasn’t been launched, got shown off to Digital Trends today. However, there were a few caveats. First, they couldn’t take a photo of the front, second, it wasn’t actually the real device – it was actually a dummy …

MWC – Meet the nubia Alpha wearable phone

We’ve seen foldable phones in Barcelona, and – in years past (actually, it was 2016!) – we’ve seen flexible displays. The latter was actually first brought to our attention as a possible wearable by FlexEnable but they didn’t have the necessary capacity to make it a full-on production …

MWC – Up close. The Samsung Galaxy S10.

I’m kinda on the fence with the wide slit on the back of this thing. Sure, I like cameras and yes, all the phones here seem to be brimming with them, but the letterbox shape on the back is a bit distracting for me, especially with some of …

MWC – Up close. The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3

So, 5G, right? For £499? Well, that’ll tick a few boxes with a lot of people methinks. The Mi Mix 3 is showing right now on the Mi.com site and she slides baby. She slides. That 6.39″ Full HD+ Samsung AMOLED has a 19.5:9 aspect at 2340 x …