Category: Android
Remember the Ouya console ? Well, this little device lets you do something similar and then some. You plug it into your TV and share your Android screen, watch YouTube, show your pictures and videos from a USB stick too. There’s a stack of additions on this, some …
That’s this weeks live CoolSmartphone Podcast wrapped up folks – you can check out the reply below – or download the audio version from Friday. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6FMRS2xJO8
I’ve started to develop a bit of a habit now – leaving the house without my wallet. At work the canteen and the vending machines all use contactless payments. When I get fuel – call it Apple Pay, call it Android Pay – the petrol station, the supermarket, …
I’ve mentioned this a few times before, and I’m guilty of it myself. Over-using my phone. Head down, plodding along the street, engrossed in some meaningless tweet. Someone could walk past me wearing nothing but a pair of socks and I’d probably not notice. My son told me …
For some odd reason I’ve now got that Adele song stuck in my head. Y’know.. “Hello, it’s me I was wondering if after all these years you’d like to meet To go over everything….” That’s it. It’s stuck in your head now. In a few minutes you’ll be …
Not too long ago you could pick up my phone and find it to be a productivity powerhouse. I’d have my email, my Citrix Receiver, Office 365, my calendar and not much else. It was a portable office. Now though, after coming back from holiday, I’ve found that …
Google has recently announced a new app that helps you sort all your travel plans. It’s a free app, and available both on Android & iOS. What with it being a travel app and all, it comes with an offline mode, allowing you to download all the info you …
Well, we knew that the Desire 10 was coming and, just seconds ago, it was announced on the HTC website. The Desire 10 is a metallic, stylish handset with a full glass frontage and 5.5″ HD screen. The one you’ll be getting in the UK has a 13 …
Allo yes, this post may have the worst title but I couldn’t help it. Back at the Google I/O Developers Conference in May, they announced two new applications, Duo and Allo. The Duo app was released about a month ago, which is the simple video chatting application if you’ll recall, and …
The launch of the Samsung Galaxy Note7 was explosive, but sadly not in the right way. Batteries seem to be melting through the handset as it’s charged and the advice now appears to be, “Woah there! Put the phone down! Put it DOWN” If you’re in the UK …
You may have done it yourself. You may see others do it. Perhaps you’ll catch an approaching driver looking down at something and you’ll wonder if they’re really just “tuning the radio” or perhaps browsing the web instead. It’s on the rise and, with the deep cuts in …
What are you doing on Tuesday morning? Well, we’re going to be at a swanky launch party in the West End of London. We’ll be eating canapés, drinking free champagne, meeting the….. ..wait. Ah no. It’s another one of those “web” launches from HTC. Gah.. what happen to …
Hacking bounty schemes are getting very popular with all the big names. Uber recently found a number of very concerning privacy issues with their application. This was found in a bounty programme. Well, it is not new news that Android has a number of vulnerabilities and generally the OS …
You’d be forgotten for thinking that there were no tech items last week apart from the over-priced, under-specced, headphone-less phone that is Apple’s latest offering. Far more exciting (to me at least!), was another announcement last week. It was well known that the LG v20 was going to …
It’s been quite a week: the IFA madness had just started to blow over, then LG announced the V20 and Apple announced the new Apple Watch Series 2 and iPhone 7. Just as all that was passing, Amazon threw their own announcement into the mix, and the device …
…or why I’m finally all-in on a paid Evernote subscription (at least for this year). It has taken just over five years to convince me, and within this time I have quit a long-term job and joined, left, then re-joined the CoolSmartPhone team. Also, for the last 5 …
Laptop PC sales are falling, tablet sales are dropping, and even the might smartphone is plateauing. Wearables have been a bit of a damp squib, and VR is just starting out. In the midst of all this, one area does seem to be (anecdotally at least) doing well… …
OnePlus has rolled out updates for their edition of Android, called Oxygen to version 3.1.0. The update includes fixes for the Quadrooter vulnerabilities and Google security patches. To get the update, simply go into settings then system updates. What’s new: Fixed some notification issues Improved Doze Mode performance …
Well it’s been some time since we heard anything from Google with regards to updating their tablet lineup. It’s all been quiet since the high-end Pixel tablet got released last year. We recently mentioned that Google were re-branding their Nexus Phone line up to be sold under the …
Back in March at Gadget Show live, I met up with the guys from Dog & Bone, who had an array of convenient accessories for those who like adventure and technology. Well, the lovely people at Dog & Bone sent us two of their Bluetooth locks, namely LockSmart …
Meet the OBi MV1 Worldphone “Obi who?” Good question. They are a Silicon Valley smartphone manufacturer founded in 2014 by former Apple Inc and Pepsi CEO John Sculley. Obi Worldphone manufactures smartphones aimed at the emerging markets, rather than very competitive developed markets. Obi Worldphone launched two of their …
Following on from the news reports that a small number of Galaxy Note 7 handsets are catching fire, we’ve now got further details on how you get yours swapped out. A full worldwide recall is now underway. Estimating to cost in excess of 1 billion dollars, the Korean company have stated that …
Sure, I use my phone for playing games on. I use it to get the latest news too, but I don’t think I’m alone in using it for one very important task, and that’s keeping an eye on my finances. We’ve touched upon ways of making money with …
I won’t beat around the bush. If you’re doing anything that you’d like to be kept a bit secret from your ISP then you need a VPN. Whether it be streaming, torrents or something in-between, online privacy is something you need to be looking at. However, it’s always …
It is hard to remember such a major issue in the tech world as big as the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco. Apple had its ‘antenna-gate’, and then ‘bend-gate’, and also issues with cracking on the iPhone 3g. Ok, there have been quite a few Apple ones. However, Samsung …
Just to bring you up to speed on this one, Three wanted to block the adverts that keep most websites alive. It’s a tricky subject and one which has various conflicting arguments. Mobile networks, when they first came to be, handled mobile calls. It was the most important …
Mention TP-Link and you might think of networking kit link the AC1900 WiFi range extender we took a look at recently. They sell network switches, routers, mobile hotspots and – although you may not know it – smartphones too. They’ve now announced an extension to their Neffos series …
Hey people. It’s Friday. We can wind down now, possibly get on a plane and go and get some sunshine yeah? Well, if that’s the plan, you can always get yourself a Three SIM and enjoy their “Feel at Home” service. As you know by now, it’ll let …
No it’s not a phone from the Minecraft community!! During our recent podcast we mentioned that Google are looking to put a stop to the Nexus line. Instead they’ll be launching a Google-branded phone from this Autumn… or this fall if you are stateside. Well, fresh news is …
You’ll have seen it on all the big news websites today and you’ll have read it first on Coolsmartphone yesterday. As we mentioned, stores are no longer selling the Galaxy Note7 following safety concerns and multiple reports of exploding or hot and melting handsets. Today Samsung has pushed …
Yesterday you hopefully saw our coverage of the Huawei launch at IFA. There’s two phones – the Huawei nova above and Huawei nova plus, below.. Huawei continues to impress us here at Coolsmartphone and these new nova handsets look rather lovely in their aluminum unibody design. The nova, …
The Motorola Moto G4 Play is a handset you can buy right now on the Motorola website. £129.98 gets you a 5″ 720p HD screen (1280×720), Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with 16GB of on-board storage and a microSD card slot. Whilst the 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 quad-core CPU and …
Following reports of exploding handsets, Samsung has taken the decision to delay shipments of their newest handset for “quality assurance inspections”. Fingers are being pointed at the battery, with phones reportedly catching fire during or after charging. However, Samsung are obviously going to be doing further investigation into …
Sony. Remember them? Perhaps I’m being too harsh, but they don’t seem to be grabbing enough of the limelight in terms of phones. Today at IFA they’ve announced a couple of news phones, including the first flagship of their X series – the Xperia XZ. First, though, let’s …
We liked the HTC One A9 and gave it a glowing review. However, one thing I did point out at the time was the cost of the thing. My closing comments were… HTC are back. Just a shame about the price for the spec we’re getting in Europe …
ZTE. Definitely not last in the smartphone race despite that alphabetical challenge. The IFA 2016 ZTE Press Conference is happening, so let’s get down to the happenings. Adam Zeng, CEO of ZTE Mobile Devices tells us that ZTE is globally the sixth biggest shipper of smartphones, and the …
Huawei. How would we not want to wait in a queue to cover the latest announcements from Huawei? I’m at the Berlin Velodrom ready to cover the #DefyExpectations event. Reading into the imagery promoting the event, it is safe to assume the phone is made of kryptonite and …
Coolsmartphone.com, represented by the Chief Pixel Density Enthusiast, is at the Lenovo Press Conference for you. You may be gutted Matteo is not on the Podcast, but it is all to bring you the latest from Berlin. Lenovo start by speaking of hardware testing and then Moto Mods. …
Samsung. Samsung Gear: the range of wearables which enhance your digital lifestyle. An event in Berlin with an animated round watchface with the “Talk About 3” slogan under it. Whatever could they be about to announce? The glowstick pass bracelet is cool, the venue is spectacular and the …
After Acer, it’s ASUS’s turn to announce stuff (old and new) at IFA here in Berlin. The ZenWatch 3 is probably the most interesting thing so far. As reported by Android Central, the ASUS ZenWatch 3 is the new Android Wear smartwatch from ASUS. With a round screen, …
