Category: Handsets (General)

Thought – Are we killing the age of innocence?

It’s fair to say that I’ve followed the mobile landscape for some time now. I sometimes forget that many of you may not remember a time before mobile phones existed, and some of you perhaps don’t even recall handsets without colour screens. Something struck me on a recent …

Give me metal!

So we now know what they iPhone 5 looks like, and its a very pretty thing, with its precision machined aluminium back and sides. Indeed a masterpiece of engineering for iOS fans. We’ve also a plethora of Windows Phone 8 devices launched by Nokia, Samsung and HTC to …

Sony Xperia T Unboxing – The Bond phone

The time has come for one of the first UK unboxings of the new Xperia T. As you may or may not know I am a Sony Mobile Ambassador in my other life (when not working or writing on here). This gives me several perks, one of which …

Getting ready for Motorola

Tomorrow is an exciting day for Intel fans with Motorola taking the reins and treating us to something they promise to be spectacular. Along side the three devices announced the rumour mill is abuzz with mention of a bezel-less smart phone and the invite hints at this just …

O2 announce iPhone 5 pricing too!

Earlier we bought you news that Orange and T-Mobile had announced their pricing for the iPhone 5. Well now O2 are getting in on the act and have posted up some prices of their own, things aren’t looking too cheap over on the blue side of the fence …

Apple announces the iPhone 5

Apple has announced the iPhone 5. Currently the device looks a lot like the leaks we’ve seen… – Screen is 1136 x 640, 4″ and 16:9 aspect ratio. – The device is 7.6mm thin, 18% thinner than the iPhone 4S. Also 20% lighter… that is a lot! – Some …

Samsung to deliver Jelly Bean in October

If, like me, you like to stay on top of the latest software for your mobile device we have some good news. Samsung’s official public release of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean for the Galaxy S III will be October/November. Also to follow in November will be the official …

EE and LTE – Roster of handsets

Now the cat is finally out of the bag. It looks like the network didn’t just go large, it went for the supersized option. The current roster of releases under the new EE brand is as follows: The Nokia Lumia 920 with its 1280×768 pixel PureMotion HD+ display, …

Got Google Walllet? Use a Prepaid Card? You need to read this.

Google are changing the Google Wallet app, and are discontinuing the Google Prepaid Card soon due to the fact it now accepts any debit or credit card. If you currently have a balance on your Prepaid card, you have until October 17th this year to spend it. There are lots of …

Nokia 920 – More bad news

OK, firstly I want to say that I and the team at Coolsmartphone have a fairly well rounded respect for mobile platforms other than the one we currently use (and we do all use different phones!) I have a lot of time for Windows Phone, and have eagerly …

Nokia and Everything Everywhere to tie up a Lumia exclusive?

My my, the formerly pink and orange telecom has been busy recently. Two weeks ago it successfully got rid of a chunk of its 1800MHz spectrum to Three UK, which could only mean it had more than it ever needed for LTE. Now, hot off the heels of …

Evidence of a Microsoft Phone ‘Surfaces’

With Windows Phone 8 just around the corner and Microsoft’s Surface tablet getting quite a lot of press I thought I’d see if I could sniff out any scent of a Microsoft built Windows Phone or a ‘surface phone’. There’s no reason for them not to and if Microsoft …

That Windows 8 Phone can go Everything Everywhere

If you’ve been reading us at all, you’ve read that Nokia has announced its Lumia 920 Windows phone 8 flagship, the 4.5” beast with the pureview imaging technology that the Finnish company is touting to put them back at the top of the smartphone pile.   What seems …

Sony Xperia Tipo – Initial Impressions

The Xperia range is rather large, covering every possible budget range some of the latest Xperia phones have been in the budget range. Including the Xperia Tipo. The Sony anti naming convention Xperia Tipo. It is a tiny little thing with an almost identical spec to the Motorola …

Fruity Tokyo blow for the Applesung Rodeo

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the courts, this time Samsung Electronics got a tick in the win column in Tokyo for patents relating to transferring media between devices. “We welcome the court’s decision, which confirmed our long-held position that our products do …

My Phone History – By Simon Allum

So after the chat about old phones in the most recent podcast it got us all talking (behind the scenes) about all the phones we have had through the years. So, inspired by that, a few of us have put together our phone history! So, here we go… Motorola M3188 …

My Phone History – By Stephen Murray

Today it is the turn of Stephen Murray to share with us his phone history. Panasonic GD30 This, as far as I can remember, was my first phone. Battery life was pretty good, and it did everything I needed it to. How times have changed! Nokia 3210 Ahhh, …

My Phone History – by Nick Plain

Continuing last weeks theme of “My Phone History”, today we go with Nick Plain. Who wins the award for owning the worst looking phone ever with that Alcatel. Here is Nicks history. Nokia 5146 I spent a lot of time choosing my first phone and contract. My two …

My Phone History – by Tom Ranson

So after the chat about old phones in the most recent podcast it got us all talking (behind the scenes) about all the phones we have had through the years. So, inspired by that, a few of us have put together our phone history! So, here we go… My first …

My Phone History – by James Pearce

Last week on the podcast we touched upon our old phones and how little they did. We decided to document our history of mobiles. Over the next week or so a few of the writers here will publish something similar. Starting with me. My first ever mobile I …

Samsung Exynos 5 Dual processor details released!

The Exynos 5  is the new processor from Samsung and this is one very powerful System on Chip! The new chipset features a pair of Cortex-A15 cores for a new level of mobile power. The SoC itself is built on 32nm production techniques and this particular version rocks …

Just how quickly can you text?

This 17-year old chap is called Austin Weirschke from Queens. The New Yorker has received a cheque for $50,000 after becoming the fastest texter in America. Austin won the LG-sponsored competition after having to memorise and type phrases on a sliding QWERTY phone. He also had to type …

Opinion: Nexus 7 – Dawn of a new age, or failure of an existing one?

Well most people will be waking up this morning to the news that Ebuyer and Google either are, or will shortly be dispatching Google’s new Flagship Nexus device, the Nexus 7 tablet, running Jelly Bean 4.1 OS. Let’s just run through the key specs of Google’s newest device: …

Deal Alert: Desire C £99 (and many more!)

The Carphone Warehouse Summer Sale started today and it looks rather good – much better than the O2 “secret” sale earlier this week! Highlights of the sale include the HTC Desire C for £99, the Motorola XOOM 2 Media Edition from £199 and various contract deals (Galaxy S3 …

Motorola MOTOSMART Budget Android Device

Motorola announced today a new budget Android device coming in the next few weeks, they say that the device will be available by the end of July on T-Mobile, here in the UK at a very respectful £99.99. Are you looking for your first Android device and have …

Review – Doro PhoneEasy 610 (one out of three ain’t bad)

Okay, it’s not cool, it’s not smart, but the Doro PhoneEasy 610 is a phone at least! A phone which deserves a mention because of what it achieves by not being cool or smart. Why am I reviewing a feature phone? Despite his age, my elderly father has …

Amazon About to Enter Phone Market?

Reports coming from Bloomberg indicate that Amazon could be about to enter the mobile handset market and are said to be in the process of acquiring patents to protect themselves from possible litigation. The Chinese mobile manufacturer Foxconn is reported to be working with Amazon on the device.  There is …

Deal alert – Samsung Galaxy Nexus £319.99 from Expansys

So you fancy a bit of jelly bean action, eh? Funny how that sentance would have got you sectioned last week.. Anyhow the lovely people at Expansys have the “flagship” Google phone, the Galaxy Nexus at a rather impressive £319-99 with free shipping. Jelly bean will be officially …

Lumia owners embraced by Nokia

Microsoft may have decided to leave us Lumia owners out in the cold regarding the Windows Phone 8 update but Nokia have come to our aid, with the warm and comforting shoulder that a good parent should do. As of June the 27th they will begin rolling out …

New Samsung GT-B9120 Android Flip Phone Announced For China

The flip form factor has suffered a rapid decline since the heady days of the original Motorola Razr and the Samsung A300. The touchscreen revolution and the emergence of the smartphone almost put paid to thoughts of any revival.  Until now. Samsung have announced a re-emergence of the …

From Russia with Love…The Lambo Smartphone!

We’ve had Ferrari and Asus, Porsche and Blackberry, and now the latest supercar manufacturer to enter the hi-tech world of computing and communications is Lamborghini! As well as a couple of rather lo-tech feature handsets, the maker of such classics as the Countach and the Aventador is launching …

Samsung Galaxy Mini 2 Launch Date Revealed

With all the furore surrounding the launch of the Samsung Galaxy SIII it’s easy to forget that there are plenty of  other phones in the Galaxy range and they are not all aimed at high end users that require copious amounts of processing power and  the ultimate in today’s …

Samsung Galaxy SIII v Apple iPhone 4s Drop Test

They are the two best selling smart phones on the planet.  With over 40 million handsets between them in circulation it only stands to reason that some are going to be dropped or broken. In order to see which would fare better if everyone’s nightmare happens and you …

PlayStation Suite re-branded PlayStation Mobile

Today, Sony announced it will be re-branding the ‘PlayStation Suite’ to ‘PlayStation Mobile’. This move will should now bring more PlayStation titles to more devices, rather than just the ‘PlayStation Certified’ handsets, which never really took off. As part of the announcement, SCE (Sony Computer Entertainment) also announced …

HTC Handsets Released By US Customs

HTC Have confirmed that certain models of it handsets that have been held by US customs awaiting clearance have been released after last week warning of a delay in shipping. The HTC One X and HTC EVO 4G LTE have both been subject to delays due to customs …

Carphone Warehouse to get Pink Galaxy Note

Samsung’s Galaxy Note has so far been one of the surprises in the mobile arena.  A sort of half breed, stuck somewhere between a tablet and a phone, the Note has won many admirers and sold by the bucketload. To further enhance those sales and desirability, Carphone Warehouse have announced …

Panasonic Eluga dL1 Review

Panasonic, long missing from the smartphone arena, have finally made the decision to enter the European market.  Their first foray is the Eluga dL1 and thanks to the kind people of Expansys we’ve gold hold of one to review. The Panasonic Eluga is a fantastic looking device.  Have …