Category: Android

A Huawei Android Wear watch appears

Huawei haven’t really made any inroads into the wearable market, bar a fitness band we haven’t seen any hint of a watch. That’s about to change, an advert has cropped up online that shows an Android Wear device on a man in a suit, he’s no doubt scared …

Top apps to keeping your finger on the pulse of sports news

After reading Leighs problems with his TV (it had an unfortunate collision with a Nintendo Wii controller), I noticed that it would ruin his yearly get-together watching the Cheltenham Festival. Hopefully he’ll have a new TV sorted by then, but if you’re into your horse racing you’ll no …

MWC – A new range of tough smartphones from the Energizer brand

Information is a little thin on the ground but MWC will see a new range of smartphones sold under the Energizer brand. Energizer have long sold chargers, cases, cables and wireless charging solutions. Now they’ll be offering smartphones too. Four new products, distributed by Avenir Telecom, will be …

Vodafone offer up the LG G Flex2 with free G Watch R

Hello, what’s this then? The hot new LG G Flex2, on Vodafone with a G Watch R chucked in too? For £44.50 per month? Ohh, I’ll have a bit of that thank-you. Feeling a bit like a bendy LG G2, this has a 5.5″ screen and runs Android …

Podcast 129 – Listen in live

Hello there, welcome to the “listen in live” page for our podcast. Joining me this week should be Ian, topics this week will hopefully be about MWC, what we’ve all been up to this week, Pebble Time and Ian and his Huawei Ascend G7. To listen in live …

Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge pictures leak

See folks, it’s not just me putting brand-new phones face-down on the floor to take shots. These images of the yet-to-be-announced Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge have just leaked out over at xda-developers. A member called graaler, who doesn’t appear to have posted anything else, has uploaded …

MWC – LG G Flex2 availability. Not long to wait

If you want the LG G Flex2 then get your wallet ready, it’s not too far away. LG have been in touch with us to state that Sprint in the USA will be getting the handset first, and then Europe and Asia shortly after. In the UK Vodafone …

MWC – Moto E updated and available now

Morning Coolsmartphoners. Hope you’re all well. We’re just about to board our private jet to Barcelona so that we can be all over that Mobile World Congress thing. It’s going to be huge, and already there’s the likes of Motorola trying to jump the gun with limelight-grabbing announcements …

MWC – HTC Announce exclusive new handset

Yes, the moment you’ve all been waiting for is finally here. The new HTC handset has been announced just ahead of Mobile World Congress. It is…. the…. HTC One M8 again. Ahhh… This isn’t the handset expected to launch on Sunday and is instead an existing HTC One …

MWC – Sony reveal their new Xperia Z4 Tablet Ultra UPDATE

It seems that, despite their best efforts to stop things leaking, Sony have slipped and overnight an image popped up on their Xperia Lounge app about the soon-to-be-released Xperia Z4 Tablet Ultra. Silly name conventions aside, what do we know about this tablet? Well, it is going to …

Pebble Time launches on Kickstarter

Today was a big day for Pebble. Just in case you have been living under a rock and dont know who Pebble are, they made the first truly usable Smartwatch that could work on both iOS and Android. That one was also funded through a Kickstarter project and …

MWC – Sony announce 4G version of their Xperia E4

It’s been just a few days since the Sony Xperia E4 was announced but, just ahead of Mobile World Congress, they’ve now slipped out the 4G variant. Available from April for “around €129” (£94.60) the Xperia E4g, as it’s known, will be appearing in Carphone Warehouse, plus networks …

YouTube Kids now live. Family-friendly streaming videos

The new YouTube Kids app we mentioned yesterday is now here and, in a pleasant surprise, it’s available for both Android and iOS. Whether kids or parents will actively download this instead of using the current YouTube app (complete with rather dodgy content that may or may not …

MWC – New phones and tablets from KAZAM

It’s fair to say that KAZAM are the new boys on the block. We were almost buried in their range of handsets at MWC last year but they’ve since got Tulisa promoting their ultra-thin Tornado 348 which, we have to say, is rather nice. Today they’ve introduced six …

The Next Galaxy – We still have no real idea, but here’s a video

You’ve got to give it to Samsung really. They know how to whip us up in to hysterical blobs of feverish tech-hungry panic. They’ve released another preview video for the Samsung Galaxy S6, which will be revealed in full this coming Sunday. It gives a tantalising glimpse of …

Xiaomi Mi4 FDD-LTE – Review

Some of you may have heard of Xiaomi, they are the third largest phone company on the planet. The problem is that they are huge in China and India, Europe not so big. You may also have come across Xiaomi with the Miui software, which started life as …

YouTube Kids to deliver child-friendly videos

Sitting a kid in front of YouTube is a recipe for disaster. I’ve already mentioned this and the safety concerns surrounding it. The trouble with YouTube is that it’s “reactively moderated” and, even if a video contains scenes that disturb kids, a lot of people either don’t bother …

Why Nintendo won’t make their games available for smartphones

For years, gamers have been imploring Nintendo to release its older games on smartphone platforms and operating systems. These pleas have fallen on deaf ears, however, current president Satoru Iwata is instead taking an entirely different approach. More specifically, he plans to remake popular smartphone games for the …

How Video Conferencing enables mobility

1995 was an interesting year. The music charts featured the “Outhere Brothers” with “Boom Boom Boom” and there was those unforgettable lyrics… “Boom boom boom now let me hear you say wayoh, wayhoh!” Back then I was too busy partying and wasn’t really concerned with working in IT. …

Take a trip on the Sony wheel

Fancy a bit of a stroll? Get out and walk around the block then you plonker. If, however, you want to pretend to be a gerbil you can try out the Sony Wheel. It’s going to be coming to a shopping centre near you soon and is currently …

Huawei launch the Ascend G7 4G

Chinese phone giant Huawei, which is the world’s third biggest smartphone provider, today launched the Huawei Ascend G7 4G. Spec’s Include. 5.5 inch HD IPS display, 720p resolution. Measuring in at 7.6 mm thick. 1.2 GHz quad core processor capable of download speeds up to 150 Mbps ( …

Sony Xperia M2 Aqua Review

Usually here at Coolsmartphone we’ll do a full in-depth review of a phone. It’ll include specs, video, pictures and all the geeky information you need to form your decision. We’ll start this review with a bit of that. This Sony Xperia M2 Aqua has a 1.2 GHz quad-core …

Pebble for Android gets actionable notifications

Pebble have been playing catchup to Android Wear this year, with the latter offering more features. Festive such as actionable notifications, whereby you get an email and you can delete it from your watch. It was the one feature that kept me using Android Wear. During the night …

Getting your app to stand out from the crowd

Creating your own app is hard enough. Learning to code, getting it right, making something popular and then hoping it’ll be downloaded lots is a long and bumpy road to travel. However, if you’ve got a thoroughly enjoyable and addictive game, or a useful and interesting app, it …

Kyocera announce the tough Torque smartphone

If there’s a printer in your office, chances are it’s a Kyocera. If not, there’s going to be one not too far away. Now though, Kyocera are to enter the smartphone market and will be presenting their “ultra-rugged” 4G smartphone at Mobile World Congress in just a few …

Teen Developers – Josh Trommel

Thinking of creating your own app? It’s not as hard as you think, provided you put your mind to it. In our regular feature we take a look at teenage developers, how they got started, what drives them and the challenges they face on the way. This week, …

Acer Liquid Jade S ready to buy now

Fancy yourself some mid range Android goodness? Dont ‘want to be a Samsung clone? This might be of interest to you then. Just before Christmas our founder and all round legend Leigh went on an excursion from deepest darkest Englandshire to the fruitful and vibrant city of Edinburgh. …

March of the Droids 2015

Over the years “meeting up” with online acquaintances has become a thing, be it UK based Android fans, Coolsmartphone writers, phone manufacturers, random people you’ve been chatting to on Twitter or heaven forbid Google+ (they say it’s a ghost town you know?). One such meetup that I’ve been …

Microsoft Universal Mobile Keyboard – Review

The Bluetooth keyboard market has taken off recently, with an influx of affordable Android and Windows tablets, along with the annual iterative updated iPads. Most people I know have a tablet of some sorts. Heck I even now one guy who asked me to fix his “Nexus” tablet …

LG VR for G3 brings 3D 2U for free

A short while ago I put together my ultra-cheap Google Cardboard headset. It’s something you construct yourself, pop on your head and then, using the Google app, you can step into a 3D world. Now, if you’ve got an LG G3 handset, you’ll be getting one free. It’s …

Sony announce the Xperia E4 and promise endless fun will ensue

Budget phones are just as exciting as flagship phones, with many people opting for a cheaper device as opposed to something over £500. Sony have announced the latest in their budget offering, the 5″ Xperia E4. Key points about the Xperia E4 are as follows: · Sony’s acclaimed …

Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 Pro – Review

A few months ago Lenovo announced a range of new tablets, some running Android and some running Windows, yet they all shared something unique. They all have a kickstand on the back allowing you to prop up the tablet in a variety of positions. But the Yoga Tablet …

HTC M9 leaks… yet again

HTC seems to be having a problem keeping a lid on things recently. As a result the HTC M9 has been leaking like a burst dam during monsoon season. I honestly have not seen this many leaks for any other phone that doesn’t have an Apple logo on …

Three confirmed to sell Galaxy A5

Not long ago we brought you the news Three were going to sell the new Samsung Galaxy A3 over here in the UK. It now looks like they will also be taking the bigger brother too – the Samsung Galaxy A5. The hands-on video from employee Brendan has been …

KAZAM Tornado 348 Review

Those models you see prancing up and down the catwalk are sometimes pretty thin. Here, KAZAM have decided to do the same with their latest mobile offering – the Tornado 348. It’s a handset which is just 5.15mm thick, which makes it the thinnest smartphone around. Wait though, …

Laundrapp expands. Get your clothes dry cleaned easily

After starting in London, the on-demand laundry and dry cleaning app known as Laundrapp has just launched in Edinburgh too. They’re planning to launch in another four cities over the next fortnight. The idea is pretty simple. Instead of having to carry your suit or smalls across town, you instead …

HTC Desire 620 now available on Three

Remember the HTC Desire 610? That had a 4.7″ qHD screen, Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 1.2 GHz quad-core CPU and 8GB on-board. The 620, however, has had a bit of an upgrade with a slightly bigger 5″ 720×1280 screen but similar specs everywhere else. The 620 is now available …