Category: Android

Return of retro gaming!

Right, I will come right and say this I am old. I can remember a time before the internet, before mobile phones and before the home computer had been invented ! I remember when gaming well that was something you did outside with your mates. I have been …

Archos announce a new smartphone line-up

Here comes the summer! Yes, it’s actually properly .. here! To celebrate, ARCHOS have sent us a box filled with ice-creams and lollipops revealed a new range of smartphones. There’s two “Diamond” handsets and two “Sense” phones. First is the Diamond Alpha, which is, according to the company, …

Vodafone Smart N8 now available

Vodafone have today launched their latest own-vranded smartphone, the Smart N8. In a time where you don’t need to spend a fortune to get a great feature-packed device, Vodafone have been producing some of the best for a while now. This is the latest in the range and, …

Honor 9 Official! (In China…)

Honor, Huawei’s brand for the “Digital Natives”, announced their latest flagship in China. The Honor 9 is now official in their home country, with a shiny metal and glass body, dual cameras and familiar chipsets… Here is the full specifications from what we have learnt so far: 5.15″ …

Strava. Huawei. Sort this out. Now.

Remember my old story about getting Strava working on Huawei handsets? It involves disabling the sometimes over-zealous power management on your Huawei phone. Why do this? Well, if you’re running Strava (the running and cycling recording app) on a Huawei phone then the battery control software will see …

Sunnycam Xtreme 1080p HD Video Glasses – Review

You have to be a little careful when describing this particular product. They are a pair of sunglasses with a hidden camera at the front. It sounds a little dodgy if you put it that way. The camera is noticeable, however many won’t spotted on a day-to-day basis. …

EE get the exclusive on the silver Galaxy S8 and S8+

We’ve seen both the Galaxy S8 and the S8+ side-by-side and we’ve covered both in great detail here. If you’re after either, but you want the Arctic Silver one, only EE will be selling it. There’s a bit of a wait if you want this particular shade though, …

Moto Z2 Play and new Mods announced

We recently brought you the review of the Moto Z Play, a mid-range device that stood out from the competition thanks to its fantastic battery life.  Moto have since announced the 2017 iteration of the device, the Moto Z2 Play.  The new phone is an updated version of …

Peli Case for your​ S8/S8+

The new Galaxy S8 and the S8+ handsets are gorgeous. There is no denying that. There are countless blogs and reviews attesting to this. However, this beauty does come at a cost. In testing by the fine people over at SquareTrade it was discovered that the S8 and …

DOOGEE Mix shrinks the bezel. Cheap too.

OK. I’ve caved. The PR people for DOOGEE have mailed me each and every single day for months now. The daily updates range from orchestrated “leaks” and “rumours”, so it’s difficult to know when an actual handset has been announced because I’m buried in their mails. Today though, …

HTC U11 now available on giffgaff

Want the squeezy HTC U11 network unlocked, on the giffgaff where you can adjust your monthly cost as you require? Head to giffgaff where they’re stocking the “Amazing Silver” or “Sapphire Blue” version right now. We’ve got full details on the HTC U11 so, when you’ve checked the …

Smartphones made of glass, lol

Wikipedia lists glass as ‘a non-crystalline amorphous solid that is often transparent and has widespread practical, technological, and decorative usage in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optoelectronics’. Here’s a further list of some things that are made of glass: Light bulbs Drinking vessels Spectacles Greenhouses Ashtrays Smartphones …

Blackberry KEYone – Pretty Pictures

The BlackBerry KEYone is a device we saw being launched in Barcelona at MWC. I’ve had one for a while and a review is coming soon to Coolsmartphone.com. In the meantime, here are some hands on shots of the device, with plenty of greenery in the background.

Sony Xperia XZ Premium now on pre-order with Three

Want to get a shiny new Qualcomm 835-powered Sony Xperia XZ Premium? If you’re looking to get one with Three, you can pre-order it right now. It’s available to buy from June 2nd. Three are offering the handset on their  “Advanced Plans”, which means that you can get the …

Face off – Huawei P10 Plus and the P10

Yesterday we took a look at the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus and yes, those are the “hot” phones at the moment. You’ll no doubt see the S8 advertised no TV, on billboards and pretty much everywhere else. However, I have a certain love for the Huawei …

Face off – The Samsung Galaxy S8 vs Samsung Galaxy S8+

Hello people. I’ll let you into a secret and I’ll also get some admin out of the way. I’ve borrowed these two phones from the people at O2. Trouble is, I’ve had them for a bit longer than I originally intended, so I have to pimp O2 a …

Nokia 9 Benchmark stats online? Super-fast scores

Over at telefoonabonnement.nl (Google Translate) there’s some interesting news about some newly uncovered benchmark scores. These have popped up on Geekbench and, by the looks of the results, this is going to be one very quick handset. The report shows that it’s faster than a Galaxy S8. The …

Getting your local GP surgery to go mobile too

Our local health centre is seriously under strain. A number of local GP surgeries have closed as doctors have retired and, with more houses being built an no additional infrastructure being put in, there’s a few battered portacabins and an engaged tone when you call up. In 2017, …

Pre-order for the HTC U11 right now

Both EE and Mobiles.co.uk have got in touch because the all-new HTC U11 (full details here) is now available to pre-order. First, and EE is obviously bigging-up their 4G network. The U11 is available on a range of 4GEE plans, and we’ve picked out a deal giving an …

Doro 6050 feature phone now available to buy

Remember Mobile World Congress? I certainly do. Let’s be honest, we here at Coolsmartphone don’t have the same budget as The Times or The Guardian, so I ended up stopping in a camper van, parked up in a local street. It was definitely an … experience. However, we …

What is a VPN anyway?

Trust me, it’s not a scary thing. Just recently I had a relative ask why I had two WiFi networks at home. I explained that one was a VPN router, and offered me privacy and security. That, if I’m being honest, made their eyes glaze over a little. …

HTC U11 Launched. Welcome to your new squeezy phone

Got yourself a HTC phone at the moment? If you have then there’s sadly not enough of you. Earlier in the year I took a look at the current HTC phones – namely the HTC U Play and HTC U Ultra. They’re properly gorgeous things. Polished, well designed …

Watch the HTC Launch, live

Here in the UK things will be kicking off in just 30 minutes. However, there’s again no physical launch event and no hordes of reports. Instead, no matter where to are in the world, you can watch the brand new HTC handset getting unveiled here on the HTC …

Latest Netflix update won’t install on rooted devices

Here at the Coolsmartphone newsroom (which to be honest is normally a kitchen) we’ve heard rumours that the latest version of the Netflix app is showing as incompatible with rooted devices. Netflix has just confirmed that with the v5.0 update adds some special.. ahem .. “new features”. They’ve …

FaceApp – Another few minutes of fun

We were big fans of the MSQRD app when it first came out. It’s quite a fun little gadget which, with the aid of your phone camera, puts masks and hats on your face via augmented reality cleverness. Now there’s another one to add to the collection, it’s …

ProBox 2 Air PLUS Android TV Box – Review

Last year I carried out a review of a new Android TV streaming box called the Probox 2 Air. You can view it here, which in summary, I was truly impressed with. Well, I’ve been asked if I wanted to review the latest version of this streaming box – …

STK Arrive in the UK via Carphone Warehouse

I’ve been taking a look at any mention of this company here on the site. The nearest I can find is this review of a battery pack they made some years ago.  STK actually make phones too. Today they’ve announced a partnership with Carphone Warehouse, who will be …

The “i” in Google

Descartes wrote ‘i think, therefore i am,’ or he would have done had he been using Google Gboard for Android with auto-correct turned on. This bug, where the letter “i” for the first-person singular pronoun failed to default to the upper case “I”, has recently been fixed with a …

Honor 8 Pro deliveries delayed

You may remember how excited we were to get our hands on the Honor 8 Pro when it was announced on April 5th. We got to spend some time with a blue one in a pub before the announcement and it won me over. So I preordered one …

Samsung Galaxy S8 – Get one on Vodafone or giffgaff too

Right, you want one of these shiny new Galaxy S8 handsets, yes? The Samsung Galaxy S8 is available on giffgaff, as is the S8+. Price-wise you’re looking at £689 for the SIM-free S8 or £779 for the S8+. Looking at the monthly prices, the network is offering the …

Samsung Galaxy S8+ and S8 – most Android pre-orders on EE to date

Well, this is impressive. It was a no-brainer that the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ were going to rack up some amazing numbers when placed for pre-orders. EE has announced that these current two smartphones have broken records for them, outselling last year’s incumbents (The Samsung Galaxy S7, …

Getting a Galaxy S8/S8+ we have you covered – Case reviews

For some, today (Friday) will herald new phone day – that is of course if you are planning on picking up the latest device from Samsung in the form of the Samsung Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+. While the phone is truly gorgeous and a sight to behold, …

A quick look at the favourite top apps according to App Annie

I get quite a few emails from App Annie. They’re an analyst firm which produces business intelligence tools and market reports, and on their site you can have a look at the most popular games and apps for different mobile operating systems. Advertising is definitely a big driver, …

How to make your family car sound like a V8

You may remember my indestructible Audi A4. She’s an old girl now and has been on the road for a decade. I bought a Bluetooth OBD gadget to plug into it just so that I could find out what all those error lights on the dashboard are. Yes, …

Galaxy S8 hits record sales.

Well, it very much appears that Samsung is rising  like the phoenix from of the ashes of the Note 7. (Did you see what I did there?) The Note 7 disaster now seems to be far from customers minds, with virtually no impact on customer confidence with the …

Galaxy S8 manufacturing costs revealed.

Someone who is far braver than I am over at IHS Markit decided to get hold of the latest flagship from Samsung the Galaxy S8 and take it apart to have a look-see what’s inside. While ferking around, they have decided to do a quick cost breakdown of …

Honor 8 Pro now available to pre-order

Our very own Matteo had some hands-on time with the Honor 8 Pro and he was so impressed that he ended up ordering one for himself. That’s saying something. So now, following all the specs and details plus our bulging gallery of Honor 8 Pro pictures, we’ve got …

Get the LG G6 with giffgaff a week before release

Look at me. I’ve got me an LG G6. Aren’t I all big and clever? I get phones first. I’m so amazing. Wait though… it’s not like that at all. In fact, I get phones on loan for a few days or a couple of weeks, then I …