Category: Handsets (General)

Tech 21 Screen Protector unboxing and application

Here we have something that will mess with your head a bit. Tech 21 have now started making screen protectors. They integrate the same tech used in bullet-proof glass. This will help protect your phone from a direct blow and there’s also a self-healing layer to protect against …

Nokia to release Android phone at MWC

According to the Wall Street Journal, Nokia will be releasing an Android phone at MWC. Yes, Nokia: manufacturer of Windows Phones, owned by Microsoft and competitor of Google. Why on Earth, then, would it release an Android phone? Well, there’s a lot more sense to it than it …

Microsoft giving free Nokia Lumia phones to Android and iOS owners

Microsoft isn’t a company that uses subtle marketing techniques, their ham-fisted Scroogled campaign has lost them a lot of respect, so this time their giving people phones in order to get them to switch from Android or iOS to the Windows Phone platform. The deal is that if …

Mobile traffic continues to rise

Last Friday, for most of us, it was pay day. It marked the end of the long (and very wet) month of January where we all recover from our Christmas spending. A lot of gifts were mobile devices, and sales of tablets in particular are predicted to outsell …

Samsung’s new Windows Phone packing a quad-core Snapdragon CPU.

A short while ago I posted an article about a rumoured new Samsung Windows Phone. It was named SM-W750V and, at the time, details were pretty sparse. The name has now changed and it’s known under the code name “Huron”, plus even more specs have now leaked out. …

LG G Pro 2 to feature OIS and 4K video.

LG is to unveil it’s flagship device – the LG G Pro 2 – at Mobile World Congress. Details of the devices camera and video capabilities have been also revealed. On the photo front the camera will have OIS Plus, which is believed to create clearer shots and …

£80 Off the Moto X at Clove

Remember the excitement when we heard that the Moto X was heading here to the UK? Remember the disappointment when we heard the release date price for the device was £380? Everyone compared the Moto X to Nexus 5 which was, at the time, a whopping £80 cheaper. …

Sony Xperia Z1 Compact lands in store

The Sony Xperia Z1 Compact (to give it its full name) has arrived on our shores. We’ve had info from O2 that they will be stocking it in its full technicolour rainbow of options. It’ll be be free from £32 per month on the Refresh plan. If you …

The Basic Big Friendly Phone Review

We’ve all got very modern and well-equipped smartphones. They can take pictures, locate you from space, navigate you home and let you browse the internet. With a smartphone you can achieve a great deal, but you’ve still got a fairly short battery life and, for some, it can …

Access your PC files using Airstream for Android

Right I’m going out on a limb here, but the chances are dear reader, that if you are a regular visitor to our site you will have heard of one of the many cloud drive services such as Dropbox, Box, Skydrive or Google Drive. In fact I’d wager …

Tizen event on Feb 23rd

Right remember Samsung’s own operating system Tizen ? Well if you’re like me I thought that it was dead and buried, but apparently not. According to the Sammobile site, Samsung is still very much committed to showing off where it’s at with the development of Tizen and devices …

Note 3 Lite not coming to the UK

Some time ago our own Ronnie posted about a rumoured device this being the Note 3 Lite which you can read here, at that time this was only speculation. But now Samsung’s fan site SamMobile have been releasing spec’s of the Galaxy Note 3 Neo aka Note 3 …

Nokia release disappointing results

I’m not a Nokia fan boy but I really like the new Lumia device’s and windows phone operating system. I thought, along with loads of other people, that this combination (plus being bought by Microsoft) would signal the beginning of a turnaround for the ailing company. Today Nokia …

Streaming music service Deezer in talks with Samsung.

There are currently a multitude of streaming music services Spotify, Rdo, Mog, Sony’s music unlimited, Pandora, and Deezer to name but a few. But due to licencing some services are only available in certain parts of the world. Here in the UK there is Blinkbox music (owned by …

£25 off Kindle Fire purchases till 20th January

Amazon UK was voted number 1 for customer satisfaction over the Christmas period, and to celebrate, any of the Kindle Fire range can be had for £25 off list price. The offer only runs until January 20, and the discount will be applied at checkout with the use …

Are you a crazed gadget fan?

A short while ago E.ON emailed me. I did the first thing that most people do when a utility company contacts you directly. I hid under the bed and shouted, “We’re not in, we never use the tumble dryer, honest!” 😉 After a while I emerged and found …

Nokia Lumia 1520 Review

Lets start with a short story. Nokia was circling the drain at the beginning of 2011 and the good ship Symbian was struggling to stay afloat. The anchors of the hefty N8 and E7 were pulling it down into a whirlpool of dispair. The liferaft of the the …

Are iPhone users more intelligent?

It’s an often discussed topic as to whether iPhone users are more intelligent than other smartphone users, or the opposite as they need a simpler phone. Well now there is “proof” – iPhone users are more intelligent. Now before you all head straight to the comments section to …

Android 4.4.2 coming to UK Moto G’s soon

The 4.4.2 update to the Moto G was originally promised for early 2014, but Motorola says it’s “thrilled to start delivering on that promise early”. The Android 4.4.2 KitKat update is now available to Moto G handsets purchased on Motorola’s website and Amazon in the US. Motorola says the Moto …

Jolla phone now available to order in Europe

The new Finnish company / phone Jolla announced yesterday that their first ever handset is ready to order if you’re based in EU, Switzerland and Norway. The phone was initially only available to pre-order earlier this year and the first production run orders ended in July. A second …

Jolla phone – Initial Impressions

The Jolla phone is finally here! Despite an attempt to deliver to my home literally the day I moved out and missing me then being re-delivered to work when I had that day off I finally got hold of the new smartphone that the Finnish nation are tentatively …

Nokia Lumia 1520 unboxing

The day has come when Nokia will stand up and be recognised as a force to be reckoned with. This stance comes in the form of the stunning Lumia 1520. This large (there is no hiding it really) phone is the one that has been designed to bring …

LG to Bundle BBM with all new Android handsets

Blackberry haven’t fared too well in the handset game in recent times which is in direct contradiction to their newest partner LG. An announcement made by Blackberry today confirms that the two companies are teaming up in order to bring BBM to all new LG Android handsets starting …

Tease me tease me Oppo

Some more images of the rumoured Oppo R1 have surfaced. This time they are hands on from an anonymous source. GSM Insider picked up some images from Weibo they come below. Rumoured specs to go with the images are that the device will include an 8 MegaPixel Camera, …

Update to Swiftkey Keyboard brings winter cheer.

The latest update to SwiftKey keyboard brings improvement to the installation process, but most importantly also brings a bit of winter cheer with a new keyboard theme. After switching over to the new “Ice” theme, you’ll be greeted by a deep blue background with snow-capped keys that drop …

British Airways to allow use of gadgets during takeoff/landing

British Airways is to become the first European airline to allow the use of electronic devices, including phones and tablets, during take-off and landing. Thus bringing the end to a 1960’s ruling. The decision was approved by the British Civil Aviation Authority according to a BBC report, and follows an earlier relaxation …

Phone Zombie takes an unexpected dip

My lunch break has become increasingly interesting in recent years. I meet new people and literally bump into them as I head out to grab a sandwich. It’s the “phone zombies” – those people who walk down a street staring at their phones. They put walking and avoiding …

The Binatone Brick – now just £29.95 SIM Free

Coolsmartphone veterans will no doubt remember our review of The Brick. It’s a lightweight version of the large mobile phones we walked around with in the 80s. It’s SIM-free and was £50 when we included it in our festive gift guide. How’s less than £30 sound instead? If …

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7-inch under £120 at Amazon UK

If you’re looking for a good deal on an Android tablet for someone this Christmas, then Amazon might be worth a look. Currently you can pick up the white Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7-inch for just £119.99. Sure, it’s not going to set your pants on fire, but …

Spotify reportedly adding free, ad-supported listening to mobile apps

According to the Wall Street Journal Spotify is planning free, ad-supported listening for its iOS and Android apps. In the past, Spotify has limited mobile listening to “Premium” paying members. Free, ad-supported listening was only available on desktop and laptop computers. With the policy change, non-paying listeners will …

USB to go topsy-turvy at last

Just a short while ago we had various handsets and roughly four thousand different types of charger. Some of you might still have an old Nokia, and you may be familiar with the, “charger hunt” as you search drawers and desks for “one of those with a small …

HTC announces the HTC One in gold

Remember the £2700 ‘real gold’ HTC One? Well, this one’s more of a cheaper ‘champagne’ version. HTC has announced a new “golden” version of the HTC One to go alongside the silver, black, red and blue versions. In this version the aluminum chassis has been treated with a …

Huawei Ascend P6 price drop to £199

With the arrival of phones like the Moto G and Nexus 5, pricing in the mid to high-end Android smartphone space has become more competitive than ever. Now we’re starting to see other handsets creep down in price to meet this new challenge. UK retailer Carphone Warehouse has …

Samsung’s proposed “Kill Switch” killed

Theft of mobile phones is on the increase both here in the UK and across the water in the US.  Those tiny little computers that most of us carry around with us on a daily basis, mostly carrying them in our hands and unprotected are worth a fortune …

Carphone Warehouse to stock HTC Desire 500

Bringing the best bits of HTC at an affordable price, it’s the Desire 500 and it’s now available at Carphone Warehouse. They have become the first UK retailer to start this device and you can hook it into all the major mobile networks. If you enjoy HTC BoomSound …

Firefox for Android pre-installed on more devices

Not content with launching Firefox OS phones via Ebay in the UK and USA and via mobile networks in Spain, Colombia, Venezuela, Poland, Germany and soon Hungary and Greece Mozilla have announced today that their Android web browser will come pre-installed on the latest batch of Kobo tablets …

The Brick – Hands on

Remember when all mobile handsets were huge? Do you remember the big hairstyles from the 1980’s? Leggings? Yo-Yo’s? Wham? Aha? A short while ago we spotted this, which is suitably named “The Brick”. It’s designed to look like those early mobile handsets, but with a couple of key …

Samsung Flagships to have 16MP camera

With the launch of the Note 3 and Galaxy S4 only just fading from the memory, Samsung have revealed during an Analyst Day that their new range of flagship handsets will ship with a 16MP Isocell camera. The Isocell allows for better low light photography, something that all manufacturers …