Category: Gadgets & Tech
If you’re a listener to our fantastic podcast (if not you should be) this week you will hear me stating that the Android 5.0 lollipop update had ruined my 2012 Nexus 7. Performance-wise the device became really laggy. Well, it appears that Google has acknowledged the issues as …
The wait is over the Nexus 9 Keyboard Folio. It is now on the Play store along with the Magic Cover. They are available for £110 and £35 respectively. I have not had hands on with the keyboard but it does sound like it could genuinely make the …
Finally we are able to purchase a Nexus 9 LTE in the UK, but not from where you think. Amazon are currently showing that they have some Nexus 9 LTE variants in Black in stock.. Unfortunately since this screenshot was taken the price has gone back up to …
In keeping with the theme of Christmas gifts, some more presents have arrived from the elves workshop. This time around it’s a candle that should bring some festive cheer to the cold dark days of winter. We recently reviewed the MiPow Playbulb Rainbow and we liked what we saw. …
Like a great many tech fans, I’m always on the look out for interesting, innovative new gadgets. I just spotted the following two products on the Expansys website but cannot decide if they’re totally pointless or the workings of a crazy genius. I believe we’ve covered then some …
Stuffed with three, yes three, 8 Megapixel cameras, Huawei today unveiled its latest smartphone under the new Honor branding. Following on from the reasonably priced Honor 6, meet the new imaginatively named Honor 6 Plus. The new device’s unique selling point is it’s three 8 megapixel cameras. There’s two in …
I know. We’ve now got to the point where we’re having to have a discussion with our own central heating. Thanks to Google Now working with those Nest thermostats, you can simply pick up your phone and say, “tweak my temperature to 22”. You’ll then hear your boiler …
You’re sitting there on Christmas morning and you’ve just received a new smartphone. It looks brilliant in that pristine just-out-of-the-box way. You are concerned though, as you’re worried about taking it into the great outdoors without wrapping it up in cotton wool or perhaps oversized bubble wrap. Just …
Seriously? I’ve spent about 12 years writing about smartphones. It all started off with the Microsoft Smartphone, then Windows Mobile, then Windows Phone and now it’s all seemingly going around in a big fat circle with Windows 10 Mobile. That’s not my beef though. I’m not even in …
Remember out MIPOW PLAYBULB Review? Put simply, it’s a light bulb with a Bluetooth speaker inside. Not only that, but you can also control the brightness of the bulb with your phone. Now MIPOW have gone one further, releasing a new product called PLAYBULB Rainbow. This is another …
It’s that time of year where you start to panic about what to get for the slightly tech savvy people in your inner circle of family or friends. You have trawelled through all the usual shops. You’ve already emptied your wallet/purse and your credit card has melted from …
Picture the scene. You’ve been held up in traffic for ages. You’ve got sunburn from the brake lights of the car in front. Eventually, after shuffling along on the motorway for what seems like hours, you see the cause of your misery. A truck, on it’s side and …
Google has confirmed that the Nexus 5 production has stopped, and… once they are gone, they’re gone, so we’d suggest people get them while they can. It was only yesterday that Google removed the listing of the the Red and White variants of the Nexus 5 from Google Play. The …
It’s that time of year again, so we’re on the hunt for deals and bargains on the internet. One that caught my eye, purely as a cheeky gift for myself, was this Hibsan Nano quadcopter. Bigger (and more expensive) versions equipped with cameras have been making the news …
We’ve got a Nexus 6 into the testbed here at Coolsmartphone and whilst the review is ongoing we thought we would let you have a sneak peak. Well, it is the season of giving and all that jazz. 🙂 The game we have chosen is the old classic …
The latest wearable to come out of the Sony machine has now launched in O2 stores up and down the country. The price is £129.99, however if you get it with a new Android phone then it will cost you just £99.99. The Smartband Talk is the evolution …
It’s a few weeks before Christmas, which means I’ve got precisely 15 million emails in my inbox from various people wanting me to pimp things. Send me BEER people. I need BEER. My message doesn’t seem to be getting through, but either way this little gadget looks pretty …
OK, I’m going to talk about it. In London recently I sat at Euston and generally watched the world go by. What was pretty amazing was the amount of people using broken phones. I saw three people with broken iPhones, and they were all cracks or busted glass …
Using your phone for writing tweets, Facebook updates and brief emails is easy enough. There’s a variety of keyboards available and you can use Swype-style keyboards to improve the speed of your data entry if you wish. You can even use these on-screen keyboards for writing more wordy …
Everything seems to charge off a USB port doesn’t it? Your phone, your tablet, your fitness band, your smartwatch, your Bluetooth speakers and more. There you are, with chargers cluttering up the place and every socket dedicated to housing one. There is a better way my friends, and …
I’m still sitting on the fence with smart watches and smart bands if I’m honest. There’s a piece of me that wants a “normal” watch that I don’t have to tap or faff with to check the time and date. However, there’s another part of me that secretly …
Richard Branson is doing his thing with space flights, sure. It’s a nice idea but let’s be honest, I doubt I’ll be able to afford the journey. So, when I get an email telling me that a space flight can be done for less than £135 I’m already …
That time is nearly upon when the internet goes crazy for one whole day to try an get you buThey the latest products at cut down prices. Now, whilst we won’t see the door buster deals that are present in the States, more and more companies are jumping …
Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod. How good is this eh? This man played Darth Vader. I mean sure, they got James Earl Jones to do the voice (y’know, with great lines such as “The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the force”). Anyhooo.. This, my friends, …
Do you use your iPad naked (ooooo missus, the iPad, not you) or do hide all of the Apple design inside a case ? I recently took my iPad mini out of its case and instantly remembered how thin and light the device was. I decided that’s how …
Here we are folks, the long awaited Xperia Z3 Tablet Review. First things first, why has it taken so long to get this review done? It’s simple really. The first tablet developed a dead pixel line from top to bottom and needed to be replaced. I also decided …
If I was in Los Angeles, and not in the middle of Walsall, I’d have seen a rather cool innovation from JLR (Jaguar Land Rover). It’s called justDrive and it’s not just built into their cars – this is an app that is available for Android and iPhone. …
Like most people nowadays I love listening to media from my phone. Be it either music, podcasts or audio books, I love it. I would say 90% of the time my listening is done through headphones. Now, I mainly use two sets of headphones. The first are my …
In May EE announced a new in-car WiFi solution called Buzzard. Plop it into your cigarette lighter and it’ll beam out a WiFi hotspot for the kids to connect their tablets / phones / iPods to in the back of the car on a long journey. Now EE …
I mentioned fairly recently that you could get some pretty sizeable online storage from a variety of places but Amazon wasn’t included. It’s worth considering though, because they’ve now added the ability to upload an unlimited amount of photos if you’re using their Prime service. Unlimited? Is that …
Our National Heath Service (NHS), love it hate it, it’s still the envy of the world. As we move ever closer to the digital edge, it appears that the NHS is following too (abeit slowly). The NHS today outlined a number of new digital improvements that include making …
Google have announced that they will shut down the Google Wallet API for third-party digital goods purchases from March 2nd 2015. Google Wallet will continue to function, however, for Google Play purchases. Google Wallet will still exist and consumers will be able to make purchases for goods in …
Today UK independent phone retailer Carphone Warehouse announced that it would be exclusively stocking the flagship handset, the HTC One (M8), in blue for the first time in the UK. This striking coloured version of the phone will be available exclusively from the Carphone Warehouse, for those who …
Every once in a while a tablet comes along that you think is going to really up the ante and raise the bar. This is what I was hoping the Nexus 9 was going to be. Now is the time where we start to find out. Those of …
Today we have a wealth of tablets in all shapes and sizes. You can choose between Windows 8, Android or iOS 8. There’s pretty much a flavour for anyone. I’m a fan of the smaller form factor and as a result I have swung toward the iPad Mini …
There’s a wide range of cases out there but this one is definitely geared towards the kids, or perhaps those who want a canvas for quickly doodling ideas. The tablet cover, available in 7″ (£19.99) and 10″ (£24.99) sizes lets you or your children doodle all over the front of …
Having already sold over half a million devices to date, through an invite only system, the Chinese startup company OnePlus have stated they now hope to have one million of their “One” phones sold by years end. Speaking to a Forbes reporter at Dublin’s Web Summit, Director …
It’s here my very own brand new Nexus 9 32gb Wifi. I have been looking forward to this day for a wee while as I loved my Nexus 7 (2013) edition and it was in desperate need of a successor. I have been reviewing a lot of tablets …
What is the main sticking point when trying to use an Android device for productivity? Simple. The keyboard. Sure, an onscreen keyboard is great for short notes and maybe the odd email or two, but for me it’s not a replacement for a physical keyboard. Although we have …
Mobile battery packs are a way of life these days, a kind of safety blanket that you keep in your rucksack, laptop bag, briefcase or handbag. It just sits there waiting to be pulled out and expected to charge your phone or tablet as fast as possible. Choosing …
