Category: Android

Xiaomi UK Launch. Who are they and how to you pronounce that name?

Today marks the arrival of a company that many here in the UK will have never heard of. However, they’re not a new brand and they’re definitely not inexperienced in any way. These guys are big, successful and expanding rapidly. Founded in 2010, they have over 15,000 employees …

OPPO to launch the R17 Pro in Europe

Following on from their debut in France with the Find X, OPPO have today announced that their R series flagship product, the R17 Pro (also called RX17 Pro), will be arriving in European markets on November 16th. Pricing is €599, which is around £523, but expect to see …

Planet Computers announce a successor to the Gemini, the Cosmo!

A few months back after returning from MWC 18, I was lucky enough to get hold of a true reborn icon in the form of the Gemini from Planet Computers. This was the companies entry product into the market and it was, on the whole, a well-received device. …

OnePlus 6T goes on sale today

After a huge build up and pop-up store success, the OnePlus 6T is now available to buy from today. The latest flagship comes with an impressive spec sheet including dual cameras on the back, a large 3700mAh battery, a tiny notch on the front, and that new in …

Fans travel miles to get hands on OnePlus 6T

With OnePlus announcing their latest flagship, the 6T, recently there have been a series of ‘pop-up’ locations where people can get hands on the latest OnePlus have to offer. Over 800 people attended the London experience, and with Carl Pei making an appearance, you even had the chance …

WhatsApp Messaging Service – Ads Are Coming.

Now Facebook-owned WhatsApp is one largest messaging platforms in use, touting an eye watering 1.5 billion monthly users. Its usage is near-ubiquitous in markets like India and Brazil where it is used for everything from delivery tracking to payments. Here in the UK it’s becoming an incredibly popular …

Honor Play – Review

What is it with all the mobile phone manufacturers thinking that we need a gaming smartphone these days? I am not the biggest gamer in the world I occasionally like a game of Angry Birds as much as the next person but I can’t see myself settling in …

Unihertz Atom – Unboxing

About a year ago I reviewed the £99 Unihertz Jelly Pro. It had 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, a microSD slot and ran Android 7 on a quad-core 1.1GHz chip. Oh, and did I mention? It was tiny. Only around 9cm tall and about 4cm wide. The …

Wait, you’re still using the standard SMS app? Time to change!

Most people, if they haven’t already switched to something like WhatsApp, will still be using the standard text messaging app on their Android phone. This is a bit pants for a number of reasons. First, if you want to send picture messages (MMS) then it’ll cost you a …

Tesco launch the Monqi

Was it really a whole year since we covered the Monqi smartphone? Yes, yes it was. Back then it was exclusively available on Carphone Warehouse, but from November 14th you’ll be able to register interest in the newer version on www.tescomobile.com/monqi. This is actually the IMO S2 with …

Honor 8X Review

I’ve had this phone for a while now, and I’ve released day-by-day video updates which will form the main part of this review. So, in the place of what you’d normally expect to find here, I’d first like to discuss the state of the smartphone landscape right now …

OnePlus 6T – Screen Unlock demo

Yesterday we visited Londinium for the big OnePlus 6T reveal. The handset has a 6.41″ 2340×1080 19.5:9 screen at 402ppi with a smaller notch up top. This newer 6T also has a few more things which are an improvement over the OnePlus 6 we reviewed, including Android 9.0 …

OnePlus 6T now official. Everything you need to know.

OnePlus have just announced their flagship device to the world, and as we thought it’s the OnePlus 6T. It only felt like a few weeks ago we were live at the London event and bringing you our full review of the OnePlus 6, so it was exciting to …

Live from the OnePlus UK launch

New York? No. We’re in London. It’s almost the same. In just a few minutes we’ll get our hands on the new OnePlus 6T as it receives the official launch treatment. You can watch the live video at the bottom of this page or, just for the kicks, …

Huawei Mate 20 Pro Review

Introduction The Mate 20 Pro has to be the highest-spec phone I have used to date, with its new Kirin 980 7nm processor, 6GB RAM, a huge Quad HD display, massive battery…and the triple camera on the back. The Mate 20 Pro really does scream top end specs. …

New “Hey Duggee” Spooky Badge released in time for Halloween

Got kids? You’ll probably be aware of the CBeebies show – Hey Duggee. Whether you’ve got kids or not, you’ll have probably seen this clip, which is all you’ll ever need to know about the app.. The show is available in over 150 territories, and there’s been over …

OnePlus 6T Pricing and specs leaked

You’ve not got long to wait until the new OnePlus 6T arrives here in the UK. A launch even is just days away (October 29th) but there’s a few leaks that have already popped up on the t’interwebs. stadt-bremerhaven.de have spotted a link posted briefly on Otto.de. The …

Xiaomi lands in the UK with something special. Meet the Mi MIX 3.

Xiaomi today unveiled the Mi Mix 3 — the third iteration of a bezel-less designed phone, kicking the notch display into touch. Wait.. Xiaomi? Don’t know them? Well, you might not be overly familiar with them yet, but they’re the world’s fourth largest smartphone brand and they are …

AV Android apps are more than just virus blockers

There was a time where there was an air of annoyance if a smartphone entered our office with an anti-virus solution on it. “Oh, that’s pointless. Who’s going to install something outside of Google Play?” Traditionally your Android phone would be infected it you went off and side-loaded …

The HTC Exodus. Early access versions now available.. but…

I’m a normal guy. Well, I tell myself that anyway. So, the moment someone mentions paying for something using Bitcoin or Ethereum my eyes glaze over. I’ve got a debit card. I’m also a guy who used to really enjoy seeing HTC kit getting announced. HTC were everywhere …

OnePlus expected to launch 5G device in 2019

The co-founder of OnePlus has announced the company will be one of the first to launch a 5G smartphone. Consumers attending a recent Qualcomm conference were given the news by Carl Pei, who stated.. As OnePlus is at the forefront of technology and innovation, we hope to continue …

Why every business needs to go all-in on smartphones

We’ve mentioned it before, and it’s something that hit me even more strongly whilst watching a recent TV show. They were discussing how businesses now get more complaints than they ever did before smartphones. The reason? We now have instant access. In years past, if you had a …

Huawei Mate 20 Pro – The unboxing

As this is Coolsmartphone, we haven’t rolled out our Huawei Mate 20 Pro review just yet because we like to review things in-depth. As is usual, we’ve put our main SIM into the device and we’re using it as our main phone, just as you guys would. However, …

Huawei Mate 20 Pro: Release Date, Price and Specifications

What do you get when you pick the best smartphone specs on offer today, bundle them into a single handset, and top it off with a beautiful design? Answer: Huawei Mate 20 Pro. The new flagship device from the Chinese smartphone giant is outrageously impressive and has definitely …

A week with the Honor 8X. Day 4 – The GUI

I had a think about this bit. I figured I could put a huge stack of images in and maybe write a load of text about how it all works… or, I could just do a video. It’s what the kids are doing now isn’t it eh? Perhaps …

OnePlus 6T is coming to Vodafone

We’re still waiting for the launch of the 6T but Vodafone have just emailed and confirmed that they’ll be carrying the handset. To be announced on October 30th, the handset will appear via a livestream at 3PM and full availability is apparently going to be from November 6th. …

A week with the Honor 8X. Day 3 – Strava and battery life!

I’ve performed a couple of tests today with the Honor 8X. The first is to check Strava. It’s an app I use a lot to track my exercise and, as you might know, I’ve had some issues with it working properly on Honor / Huawei kit. From what …

Roav Viva by Anker – Review

The Roav Viva from Anker is a Bluetooth enabled smart speaker charger that would charge for car accessories such as mobile phone or tablet whilst you are out and about but it will also allow you to utilise the power of Amazon Alexa for search. The actual unit …

A week with the Honor 8X – Day 2. The camera.

Today I’ve been taking photos. I left the AI mode on for a lot of the images you’re about to see and, as it’s a dark and windy Autumnal day, there wasn’t a great deal of light to help. That AI system will magically take a look down …

Vodafone and Sky Mobile to take the Huawei Mate 20 Pro

If you want to see more about the new Huawei Mate 20 Pro, look no further than our video hands-on.. It’ll be on sale on October 26th, but you can pre-order it already. First of all, Sky Mobile (who use O2 masts) have announced prices, which start at …

BlackBerry launch the KEY2 LE. Available today.

Remember our review of the BlackBerry KEY2 ? Well, now you can get a slightly cheaper version of that with this new 32GB single-SIM KEY2 LE model. It’s available to buy from the BlackBerry website for £349, which is over £200 cheaper than the £579 price-tag for the …

Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro now official

Here in London Huawei have announced three new devices which will be on sale shortly. All offer an interesting set of specifications. To give you the maximum amount of info in the quickest time, here’s a video showing my favourite – the Mate 20 Pro… The Mate 20 …

Join us for the Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro Launch – Live

We’re sat in a very busy ExCeL centre here in London for the Huawei global keynote presentation. We’re going to see the launch of the newest Huawei handsets and we’ll be bringing you a hands-on demovery soon indeed. We’ve got our laptops, we’ve got our cameras, we’ve got …

A week with the Honor 8X – Day 1. A tour.

Only 5 days ago Honor revealed the 8X. We’ve already given you all the details about it but what’s it like to actually use on a daily basis? Well, to get that sort of information, I’d need one in my pocket every day. I’d need to be using …

OnePlus coming to EE and Vodafone

OnePlus are quickly becoming a huge player in the smartphone business, making the phones people want at an affordable price. Until now in the UK, your only network of choice was O2 unless you bought an unlocked and used your own SIM, however this comes at a cost …

New Smartwatch anyone?

The smartwatch march continues!  While the Apple Watch is the most popular smartwatch around, for those who don’t use iOS or who fancy something a little different look no further: the last few weeks have seen a number of devices leaked.  Here is a round-up of the main …