Category: Android
It seems that there’s no love lost between Cyanogen Inc and CyanogenMod. The CyanogenMod.org website is now dead. It comes just hours after this blog post from the developers behind it. When the CyanogenMod team announced that they were going to fork the source code yesterday we simply …
Well, we didn’t want this to come (especially so late on Christmas Eve when we’re all full of mince pies) but it has. Following our earlier news that Cyanogen OS is to be retired, it now looks like CyanogenMod in its current form is toast too. However, there’s …
At the beginning of November, Huawei released something a little bit exciting – the Huawei Mate 9. I was lucky enough to be given one of these devices for review and as such have been using it for the past few weeks. It is now time for me to …
A short time ago we reported that Cyanogen as a company would be shedding considerable staff. They were also closing buildings with some of the team moving to a single location. The new CEO, Lior Tal, announced the company would cutting ties with co-founder Steve Kondik too. Now Cyanogen …
Enjoy Twitter? Or are you a Facebook fan? I’m definitely more of a Twitter person myself, and have the official app installed on my Android phone. I have a bit of a love / hate relationship with the app because it tends to conveniently “forget” my settings every …
No, I’d never heard of Hebron before writing this either. It’s in Northumberland and there’s less than a couple of hundred houses in the entire parish. However, despite BT digging stuff up and putting a nice green street cabinet for “Superfast Broadband”, residents are still stuck in the …
Filling an entire news item with conjecture and rumour about an upcoming launch? Well, I’ve seen it quite a bit across the web today. Many are trying to decide what exactly the new “HTC U” or “HTC for U” launch, which we’ve just received an invite for, actually …
Some time ago I decided to cancel my current satellite TV subscription. To be honest I thought the monthly fee was extortionate and decided to go along the “cable cutters route”. I found that I could get nearly all, if not all of the content I wished to …
The Coolsmartphone Podcast, Podcast 189, for the week of December 12th 2016 is now ready for download through your podcast client of choice. Whether you are watching the Youtube video of the live recording, or using a client to download the edited audio, we’re here to inform and …
Lenovo and Chrome OS 2016 has been on record for being one of the most interesting years on record. Whether in the political sphere (not going there) to the tech world (Google’s smartphone, exploding Note 7s, the disappearance of headphone jacks). However arguably the most innovative device has been the …
Magic! Honor pulled quite a number in China yesterday unveiling the Honor Magic, a smartphone all curves and shiny glass. The Honor Magic has an interesting spec sheet to say the least, as it differs from most device SKUs on the current smartphone market. The screen is a …
The Honor 8 is a great phone, I use one as a main phone and am very happy with it. Vmall currently have some attractive discounts on the Honor 8: £50 off the white one and £30 off the black and blue models. What do you get for …
Introduction Regular readers of the site may remember my adventures and #firstworldproblems in the tablet world. Whether it was using an iPad Mini (many years ago), Windows, convertible devices or a cheap Android slate, I hadn’t found a device which satisfied me completely. My Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 …
This looks to be the “next big thing” on mobile. Today Super Mario Run will finally launch for iOS devices and, although it looks a bit like the traditional Super Mario Bros, this is an “autorunner”, so the clever little plumber moves forward at all times. That means …
Using Android Pay could result in a nice gift this festive season. Just use your phone to pay for something and you’ll be in with a chance of winning one of 100,000 prizes. Get a cracker every time you use Android Pay “through Dec 31”, which apparently is how …
If you’ve got a hankering for a flip-phone with “proper” numeric keys, the Doro 6520 could be on your shopping list. Now, in a new partnership with Three UK, Doro have got handsets on every UK network. Doro used to be known for selling phones aimed at the …
A new game is now available on Android and iPhone which encourages you to steal (virtually, that is) from others. After downloading “Snatch” you can win prizes by grabbing virtual parcels. Within those parcels are real prizes, including a year’s free pizza from Pizza Hut and a year …
Android skins are one of the most polarising subjects in the geek world, and Samsung’s Touchwiz receives most of the love and hate in equal amounts. Once the do it all approach of weird gestures and strange features, it has become much tamer in later editions. Now, it …
The Galaxy S8 is going to be an important phone for Samsung in 2017. In the wake of the utter disaster that was the Note 7, the company arguably has a lot of ground to make up in winning over buyer’s confidence. Rumours of what the S8 will …
Next time you’re around your parents have a look at how many app updates are pending – I bet its lots! Convincing Joe public to update their apps is difficult enough at the best of times, many just ignoring the pop ups and warnings. Afraid they will break …
Now, I could try and build this up to be something quite clever and inventive. To a degree it is, there’s a strong and quick-retracting cord and a clip which goes onto your pocket. However, I don’t think we can dress up the fact that it’s a bit …
Today Google is rolling out Android 7.1.1 Nougat to some devices. This isn’t a big release, but adds a few features to Pixel and Nexus devices and tidies up things with bug fixes and optimisations. The list of devices getting Android 7.1.1 Nougat from Google is as follows: …
Last week Meizu announced the Pro 6 Plus and Flyme 6. Now it is the turn of the Meizu M5 Note to be officially unveiled in China. The Meizu M5 Note is a super midranger with an amazing spec sheet in value for money terms. All metal body …
Recently we heard about the world of smart buttons, in particular, “flic” which have a number of purchasable buttons to make your life easier. I got my hands on the buttons, and had some fun!
Well, we’ve tried to borrow one of the new Kodak Ektra phones but it’s been a no-go so far. Good news though, because as of Monday December 5th, you’ll be able to get one. You’ll need to be in London at the Kodak Soho pop-up store, which is …
This one kinda raised some immediate red flags with me. Sure, the idea is great – it’s an app which will automatically put money into a special savings account based on your affordability. It’s a great idea, but when the developers told me that you had to “link …
A while ago, I carried a review of the Smanos Wireless home alarm which you can view here. Well smart home security experts, Smanos, launched their quirky UFO Panoramic Wi-Fi HD Camera today as a new addition to its comprehensive range of easy-to-use smart home security products. The …
Meizu today announced their new flagship and updated Android-based OS: the Meizu Pro 6 Plus and Flyme 6. Meizu, one of our favourite Chinese smartphone companies, has been incrementally improving its product line-up in terms of hardware for a few years now. Their devices have a tightly integrated …
If you’ve ever gone into Boots or another store selling makeup and beauty products, you’ll no doubt have seen the orange-faced girls who are more than keep to plaster your moosh with lipstick and eyeliner. The result may or may not be what you’re looking for, but orange-faced …
The Wileyfox Spark X we reviewed recently ran an OS based on Android called “CyanogenMod”. Think of it as an Android OS with extra goodness. We tested out the theming support and the privacy guard in our review but there’s also FLAC audio support, CPU overclocking, an unlockable …
After watching two weeks of “The Grand Tour”, I’ve realised that both me and my son are calling it “New Top Gear”. It’s totally blown away any BBC attempt at the show, with the crazy antics turned up to 11 and the 4K footage beautifully filmed, it’s proving …
OnePlus today opened up orders of the updated OnePlus 3 – the OnePlus 3T. It’s now available unlocked in the UK and across Europe. Priced at £399 for 64GB and £439 for new larger storage option at 128GB, it’s also available in the new “Gunmetal” colour. No news on the …
As we race towards the bottom price point, there are some amazing handsets available for a more bank friendly price heres my review of the Nuu Mobile X4.
A short while ago we used to smile at the crazy weird people who queued up to get the latest iPhone. Now, we’re seeing some different people queueing up. They’re cool people. They’re not Apple fans and we like them lots. Wait… Have I stirred up the fanboys …
Honor have come a long way in Europe since landing quietly almost two years ago. Under the wing of parent company Huawei, they have gone from strength to strength and now have a new affordable flagship in the Honor 8. I’ve been using the Honor 8 over the …
Today is the day when people either lose their calm, get into a fight over saving £9.99 on a TV in a store, enter a spiral of misfortune and wake up in a prison cell… or they don’t. Luckily we know the Coolsmartphone.com readers to be more clever …
Years ago, before flat screen monitors, we had big chunky PC’s with big chunky CRT monitors. Laptops weighed half a tonne and smartphones were just a dream. The internet? You’re joking son. If you were at work in these times (which, granted, seems like something from the prehistoric …
We’ve written about it on Coolsmartphone.com. We’ve talked about it on the Coolsmartphone Podcast. We’ve bought some, and some of us use one daily. The Amazon Fire 7″ is now £29.99 at Amazon. Running Fire OS, Amazon’s distribution of Android, with microSD expansion, and sporting a pretty sturdy …
Right. Yadda, yadda, yadda, Black Friday. Deals. Bargains. Offers. Spend lots of money. Take many years to pay it back. Stress about it, but bury your head in the sand and look at the shiny, shiny. Yay. Today it’s Argos, and a load of Black Friday deals have, …
VaragtP Studios have today launched a cute garden game called Planetera. The purpose of the game is to create your own virtual garden with cute creatures of various shapes and sizes called helpers. Even cute games have villains called evil critters, not the most menacing name! Game Features: Plantera …
