Category: Android

MWC – THAT new BlackBerry. Hands-on with the KEYone

This was tucked away around the back of the Alcatel stand but there was no shortage in interest. It’s a bit of a heavy thing at 180g and we’ve already posted a BlackBerry KEYone gallery after it leaked all over the place last Saturday morning. This one is …

MWC – We finally got a look at the Kodak Ektra

We’ve given the press people at Kodak quite a few emails now. We’ve still not been able to borrow one, so during our trip around the Mobile World Congress we finally got a few minutes to have a look at the Ektra in the flesh. It sells for …

MWC – Hands on with the Doogee Shoot 2

Just the other day we took a look at the rather massive Doogee Y6 Max. Imagine one of those old cheap tablet devices but with less bezel and a better resolution screen. Now imagine it costing about the same amount as one of those cheap tablets but it’s …

MWC – E&L Mobile push to make a name for themselves

Don’t worry, I’d never heard of them before either. They’re actually a company called Shenzhen Kenzinda Technology Co. Ltd. and they’re 10 years old in May. They have factories in India, Iran and Ethiopia along with Shenzhen City. Now, as “E&L Mobile” they’re trying hard to move out …

MWC – The Hisense Rock. Hands-on.

Powered by the very latest Android Nougat OS, I was quite surprised by the Hisense kit here at Mobile World Congress. Older handsets we’ve received had questionable build quality, but there’s definitely been an improvement of late and this tough smartphone doesn’t look overly “blocky” in appearance – …

MWC – The Sony Xperia XZ Premium. Up close and personal.

I don’t know what it is about me and Sony. I’ve never totally gelled. Over the course of this week in Barcelona I’ve called their new phone “the ZX” (it’s not, that’s something to do with Spectrum computers) and I’ve also called it the “Xperia XZ” (it isn’t …

MWC – Nubia N1 and Nubia N1 Lite

I had a look at the rather good Nubia Z11 yesterday and was pretty impressed by the camera. On the other side of the stand is the aggressively priced Nubia N1 and the newly-announced Nubia N1 Lite shown in black on these shots. The Lite still has a 5.5″ …

Play Snake on your smartphone right now.

Sure, you could get the new / old Nokia 3310 to play Snake on, but it’s not the traditional version. It is, as you may have seen in my hands-on video the other day, a modem jazzed up version. If you want the traditional version, try getting this …

MWC – Hands-on with the Alcatel A3

Available in May, this will cost you €149 (£127.74) in either black or white. It’s another phone from TCL and this is a pretty entry-level affair. The Alcatel A3 actually has a higher resolution camera than its bigger brother, the A5 LED. Here you’ll get a 13 megapixel …

MWC – Alcatel goes back to the old days with the A5 LED

Standing out from the crowd here in Barcelona is particularly difficult. I’m not talking about the stands, because it’s already tricky enough in that respect. Money (a lot of it, think millions of pounds) buys you big floor space and a bigger impact. Some companies resort to sweets, …

MWC – Halls 5, 6 and 7. The video tour special.

I’ve filmed this slightly out of sequence but today we’ve got my rambling tour of halls 5, 6 and 7. If you’ve missed some of these, don’t worry, we’ve got Halls 1, 2 and 3 here plus Halls 8 and 8.1 from yesterday. Today the highlights include… The …

MWC – Huawei + Saatchi Gallery + Leica Exhibition

Leigh and I covered the Huawei P10 launch for you here in Barcelona on Sunday. During what was one of the most polished and well delivered press conferences of MWC this year, Huawei invited us to visit the photography exhibition they are hosting here in Barcelona in partnership …

MWC – Hands on with the Nubia Z11

This one was actually launched at IFA last year but still takes pride of place on the Nubia stand. First there’s a “Standard Edition” which comes in either silver or grey. This has 4GB RAM and 64GB of storage. It costs €499. Then you have the rather bling-tastic …

MWC – Samsung Galaxy S8 leaked image

The one device we’ve not seen here is the much anticipated Samsung Galaxy S8. Although Samsung did have a press conference, and although they have a massive stand here, the S8 hasn’t shown up. Until now.. Serial leaker @evleaks has just posted this image, which has the date …

MWC – The Doogee Y6 Max 3D Photo Special

As I mentioned earlier today, I’ve borrowed the Doogee Y6 Max 3D. It is, and let’s not lie to you here, a bit big. The dimensions are 89mm wide, 171.3mm tall and it’s 8.95mm thick, weighing in at 250g. Powered by a MediaTek Octacore MTK 6750T CPU, it …

MWC – Hey Honor. Perform some Magic in Europe!

Imagine a pebble. One of those really cool pebbles that you find at the beach. Those ones that you use for skimming across the water. They’re brilliant aren’t they? Here at Mobile World Congress I’ve managed to get some time with the Honor Pebble Magic. It’s very pebble …

MWC – Oh wow, I’m in love! Hands-on with the Xiaomi Mi MIX

This morning I talk a walk to the China Mobile stand and there, amongst the robots and networking kit, was the Xiaomi Mi MIX we covered last year. This, though, was my first time seeing it in the flesh and .. woaha… A 6.4″ display oozes right to …

MWC – That Nokia 3310. Why the fuss?

Whilst walking around the expansive halls here at Mobile World Congress, I couldn’t help but think about the re-release of the Nokia 3310. Why? Well, here in the Fira Gran Via it’s all about the future of mobile, not the past. Stands are pushing “5G” (even though nobody …

MWC – The Sony Xperia Touch. Everything you need to know.

This morning we covered the Sony press conference live. They announced a new Xperia XZ Premium handset which we’ll be telling you more about shortly. They also announced a couple of mid-range devices – the XA1 and XA1 Ultra – and some open-ear headphones …… but our attention …

MWC – Hands-on with the HTC U Play and U Ultra

These are definitely very nice looking gadgets indeed. The paint job on the back is particularly stunning and reflects and shimmers the light around as you move it. Available from March, the U Ultra is the larger of the two phones but both run Nougat 7.0, have microSD …

MWC – Lenovo launch the Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSc1YQqRrG0 Both powered by Nougat 7.0, these will be shipping next month. The two handsets are well built and there’s a definite focus on a clean and premium metal finish here. The G5 has a 5″ Full HD display (1920×1080) display whilst the G5 Plus has a slightly …

MWC – Nokia have returned.

In reality the Nokia brand should be worthless. Microsoft grabbed the mobile arm of Nokia and then either.. (a) Performed a number of changes in order to make it more successful (b) Completely destroyed the mobile side of the company after launching devices like the 930. ..it depends …

MWC – Huawei P10 and P10+ Picture Special

Following on from the EE announcement, we’ve had confirmation that both Three and Vodafone will be ranging the Huawei P10 and Huawei P10+ too. Three have confirmed that they’ll be taking the black and gold models. The P10 and P10+ will be available pricing from March in Europe …

Google Assistant coming to Android 6 and 7

Well, when we saw the launch of the LG G6 we thought that having Google Assistant on it was something special, but not so. It turns out that Google Assistant is coming to Android 6 and 7. Google tell us that .. The Assistant is already available on …

MWC – Sony Event Live Blog

We’re live here in Spain for the latest Sony announcements. Join us below for all the fun… Here’s the clever protector in action…

MWC – Yes, yes. Actually yes. The Nokia 3310 is back.

Did that just happen? Did we just dream that entire announcement? Did Nokia just show us the 3310 ? At Mobile World Congress? In 2017? Yes. Yes it did, and it’ll cost just €49. It’s SIM-free, unlocked and has Snake. Snake. It’s got Snake! SNAKE! Honestly. I think …

MWC – Huawei P10 and P10 Plus announced. EE to carry

EE have just confirmed that they will be taking both the Huawei P10 and the P10 Plus. They’ll also be delivering WiFi and 4G calling on their network. This means you can make calls and texts in more places, and you get higher data speeds too. There’s a …

MWC – The LG G6 is go!

Well, here it is. The LG G6. Last year I was here to see the modular G5 and all the additional toys getting shown off, but this year the idea of plug-in peripherals seems to have taken a back seat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vMLTdgRB8Y LG spoke about the “ideal smartphone” and …

MWC – LG G6 Launch Liveblog and livestream

We’ve heard the rumours and seen all the leaked shots, now it’s time for the launch itself. We’re expecting a new 18:9 screen, a bigger battery, faster CPU and no more modular business. Rumours of rounded corners on the screen and a flattened rear with no camera hump …

MWC – New Sony Xperia handsets appear online

There’s not a great deal we can tell you about this, other than the fact that trusted leaker @evleaks has just dropped this little beauty in his Twitter. Sony has a launch event scheduled for tomorrow morning which we’ll be attending. We’ll then be able to get you …

MWC Gallery Special – BlackBerry KEYone.

Well, Matteo loves it, and he’s taken lots of photos for you to enjoy. We got the full details of the KEYone early this morning but, after the live event, we finally got chance to get a hands-on with the thing. The people behind this have just put …

MWC – Live from the BlackBerry KEYone announcement

The DTEK70, aka the BlackBerry Mercury, accidentally showed up online this morning in an official release. The final name will be the BlackBerry KEYone and is made by TCL with BlackBerry as a licensing partner. The actual TCL press event is happening right now in Barcelona, and you …

MWC – BlackBerry Mercury accidentally goes official as the KEYone

A slightly premature embargo-busting post by the guys at GSMArena (now removed) has resulted in the BlackBerry KEYone spilling all over the internet earlier than expected. The handset, which has already appeared in the flesh thanks to teaser shots from TCL Exec Steve Cistulli, was also known as the DTEK70 …

Remix OS is coming to your phone… Kinda

We here at Coolsmartphone like Remix OS. I have personally used it in the form of a tablet, and also a set top box. I have also seen a prototype of their next tablet (which sadly seems to have stayed as a prototype). Now along with their recently funded …

Another flying Selfie Shooter – AirSelfie

Just the other week we had the SELFLY. It was a flying camera which, when it wasn’t in the air, formed a case around your phone. Now, we’ve got a competitor in the form of the AirSelfie. It looks to be a smaller and ultra-portable. The people behind …

So, the LG G6 just leaked

Trusting leaks can be a dangerous game, but when it’s long-time leaker @evleaks, we do listen. He’s just posted this picture on his Twitter feed, purportedly of the incoming LG G6, which we’ll be able to get our hands on this coming Sunday when it’ll be launched officially. …