Category: Android

Huawei-built Nexus appears again, this time with a strange lump

Weird it may appear, but these leaked shots, which include an unfortunate and slightly revealing shot of the cameraman beneath a Chinese sign, are apparently of the new Huawei-built Nexus. The smooth and rounded appearance is here once again, as is a small circle in the middle which …

Oppo R7 Plus now available outside China

Back in May Oppo announced their new R7 Plus. It’s a handset with a 6″ 1080 x 1920 (~367 ppi) screen and measures in at 158 x 82 x 7.8 mm giving you a 80% screen-to-body ratio. Now the OPPO R7 Plus has been launched in Southeast Asian …

Lenovo ZUK Z1 Announced – Hands-on

Meet the ZUK Z1 – a handset to be sold online by Lenovo. Going on sale on August 18th, this is a new brand of handset designed to try and fend off the rise and rise of Xiaomi in China. It’ll sell for CNY 1,799, which is around …

New BBC iPlayer features announced.

iPlayer is one of the most popular apps out there. The BBC has had great success with it, with a staggering number of downloads per month. To its credit, the BBC routinely updates the app (albeit not the Windows Phone variant). The most recent version brings a series …

OnePlus 2 – First impressions

Gary Weldon (he’s UbuntuBoy on Twitter by the way) was kind enough to give us his first impressions of the new OnePlus 2 handset. He’s had it in his hands for a good few days now and has been kind enough to send us his thoughts. He also …

Moto X Play is now available via Motomaker

Didn’t take the plunge on the Moto G (3rd Gen)? Then your patience may well have paid off as the Moto X Play just became available on the MotoMaker service on Motorola’s website. What is really surprising is the price that this device will cost. The 16GB version …

Fossil to launch an Android Wear watch.

Founded in 1985, Fossil recently announced that they were teaming up with chipmaker Intel, which could mean only one thing. The company was looking into a smartwatch. Well at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) 2015. it was announced that Fossil will release its first fashion smartwatch, an as-yet-unnamed …

A glance at the new Huawei kit coming in a couple of weeks

Ahead of IFA – the consumer electronics trade show in Berlin – Huawei have sent us a few clues as to what to expect at their launch event. We will, as per usual, be reporting live, and Huawei will be doing their reveal on September 2nd, just before …

Project Ara delayed.

Back in 2013 Google revealed it’s plans for a modular smartphone Project Ara. We spoke a lot about the project on our fantastic podcast and universally loved the idea. Imagine you’re happy with most of the aspects of your current smartphone apart from the camera. Well no problem, …

The name’s Mallow. Marshmallow. Android M finally named.

Whoop, there it is! No longer do we have to call the next version of Android, the M build, or version, or Android M. Android Marshmallow has officially been announced to the world. It even has a fancy boot animation that’s you’ll be able to see for yourself …

2015 Nexus photo leaks.

I loved the Nexus 5, so much in fact that I bought 3, but when the Nexus 6 came around it just didn’t grab me. It was just that bit too big and let’s be honest, too expensive in comparison to the other versions. Well if the rumours …

Huawei P8 wins European Smartphone Award

We were pretty impressed with the Huawei P8 in May and, yet again, it seems like we weren’t the only ones. The European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA) has awarded the P8 as the “European Consumer Smartphone 2015 – 2016”. This is the third year running that the phone …

Get the OnePlus 2 WITHOUT the invite

Our main man Garry sent me an email late last night. “I just reserved my OnePlus 2 invite, can you please follow this link so it will boost my place on the list? Thanks!” Oh, the cheek eh? Well. I guess, if you’re going to reserve your place …

One Year Teen Developers Series Anniversary!

  Hard to believe that it’s been exactly one year since the first teen developer interview was published. In the year since, we’ve published 23 interviews! Although long-time readers may remember that we technically published 24 but had to retract one. This means there’s been an average of …

Samsung announce Galaxy S6+ Edge

Samsung have today announced the brand new 5.7″ Galaxy S6 edge+. The handset with 4GB RAM, wireless charging and internal storage of either 32 or 64gb will be available to pre order from 18th August and available to buy from 4th September in the UK. The specs are …

Kogan arrive in the UK

Good old Kogan eh? Kogan, Kogan, Kogan.  So yes, you’ve probably never heard of them, but what I can tell you is that they make a handset called the Kogan Agora 3G Lite for £69. It doesn’t quite have the specs as the upcoming £65 Meizu m2 but for …

HTC to lay off over 2,000 staff

Just a couple of days ago we showed that HTC was essentially worthless. Financially, at least. Today they’ve announced that 15% of their staff are to go in order to reduce operating expediture by 35%. The company states that they need to be “leaner and more agile” in …

Samsung Unpacked – Rumour round-up.

Seeing as the whole point of the Samsung Unpacked event is to announce their new Autumn line up, there hasn’t been anything official announced yet. We know there’s going to be a new Galaxy Note, because there’s always a new Galaxy Note at this time. But there have …

Sony to announce new devices at IFA

IFA is nearly upon us, and rumours on what to expect from the event are starting to reach us. The latest news (from a reliable source) involves several devices which Sony are expected to announce at the event. These are the Z5, Z5 Compact and the Z5 Ultra. …

Huawei to unveil new devices at IFA

The rumour mill in the build up to IFA has officially started. In the Sony camp we have already seen the earlier gossip, but now we’re hearing from Huawei too. They have a busy schedule lined up over the next few months. First they’ll be working with Alphabet …

Level up in the gaming industry

My house at the moment sounds insane. My wife and son are both obsessed by the new Angry Birds 2 game that recently launched. It’s not quite the hysteria of the first one, but it’s definitely proving to be a big hit. What I’ve also found, after briefly …

You! Win one of two Doro 820 Mini handsets!

Everyone loves a good competition, and we have a great one for our readers. We’ve teamed up with Doro, the easy to use mobile phone company, to give away a pair of Doro Liberto® 820 Mini handsets. Designed with the senior in mind, this smartphone has a simplified interface …

Motorola deals now on

It is, apparently, the summer. Motorola are keen to celebrate (and make some money) by starting a “Sizzling Summer Sale”. It’s on right now and ends on the last day of August. You can save quite a bit on this, including… £155 off selected Moto X phones – …

OnePlus Two goes on sale… you still can’t buy one though!!!

The day has come. The OnePlus Two has now gone on sale on the OnePlus website. However if you don’t have an invite, and it is unlikely that you will, you still can’t buy one. I have been following the development of the Oneplus Two and the build …

Alcatel OneTouch are going to flip you with the Idol 3

I’m going to write this post in a slightly different way. This is a direct message to Alcatel OneTouch, and you can all read it. Now, I’m a lucky boy. I get to travel to places like Barcelona and see all the latest gadgets get launched during Mobile …

Fancy winning a new phone?

Do you fancy cheering yourself up over the next few days? If so, then we have a wee contest for you to check out. Our friends at Skyscanner, Honor and Three have all collaborated to put a prize fund together. The prize fund will include an Honor 6+ …

LG Wine Smart marks the return of the flip smartphone

Back in the day, when this site was still in nappies, we were looking at “proper” smartphones. They had numeric keypads on the front and tiny low-res screens up front. Cameras? Oh, they were a dream son. Some even had the audacity to be “flip” phones, which were …

BBC News on your wrist.

The latest update to the BBC Worldwide News app version 3.2 sees the inclusion of Android Wear support, meaning short news snippets will be sent to your wrist. Articles are presented in a RSS style layout, with the ability to swipe horizontally and vertically: go up or down …

Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 5.5″ Unboxing

Time for another unboxing and it is another mid-tier champ. This time from the boys and girls at Alcatel. Wait did I just say Alcatel? Surely they don’t have anything that I as a Coolsmartphone reader would be interested in? Well let me show you what we have …

Nokia N1 coming to the UK and Ireland

Hands up who remembers Nokia? Good, a few virtual hands were seen there. For those of you who are itching for some Nokia goodies, your wait is nearly over. The N1 will actually be available to buy here in the UK very soon. I had a good hands-on …

HTC Add Wi-Fi Calling to HTC One M9 on EE

Wi-Fi Calling is almost the holy grail for people such as myself where the signal at home is shall we say less than desirable. The news is therefore good for those with an HTC One M9 on the EE network for Wi-Fi calling is about to be rolled …

Omni Swipe launcher hits 100 million downloads.

Add-on launcher Omni Swipe (previously called Lazy Swipe) has surpassed a milestone only achieved currently by 97 other apps. They’ve hit the 100 million download limit. The theory behind the app is simple. Once installed you get a quarter circle segment displaying the most recent apps you’ve used, …

Not a Yotaphone 2 for America

A phone with an improved battery life already sounds appealing, but one with two screens? Even better. We particularly liked the implementation of the handset when we reviewed it earlier in the year. However, if you’re in the USA it looks like you won’t be able to buy …

Conferencing on the go without embarrassing yourself

Just like video conferencing changed the way you connect with your workplace, the increasingly popular mobile video conferencing is triggering an evolution in how and where you connect. Without the need for a stationary computer or a bulky laptop, you can meet with your co-workers and clients anywhere …

Motorola Triple Product Launch

Earlier this week we covered the Motorola Triple Product Launch in London with a live-blog and have discussed what was launched in a post and this week’s Coolsmartphone Podcast. Lets look at the three products Motorola launched in a bit more detail. Moto X Style Motorola’s new flagship. …

Skyscanner Flights – A real world test

What with the delightful weather we are having here in the UK, you may not have noticed that it is, in fact… summer. Do you feel that you need to get a bit of sun on your bones, or you fancy whisking your loved one away on a …