Category: Handsets (General)
If you are a regular reader of this site, you will know that I’m a real OnePlus fanboy. I’ve owned every device that the company have released, and upon seeing the price of the new Google Pixel phones I’ll definitely be staying in the OnePlus stable. To be …
Oh, you wish there was just one true cross-platform messaging app, don’t you? Oh hang on there is, and it’s called SMS. SMS has been truly cross-platfrom and also operating-sysem neutral for the past, I don’t know, 30 years. Yet no one seems to have grown the service, apart …
We have managed to do it – we finally have an unboxing before a phone is due for release. This took us a fair few hours of persuasion and persistence from me upon the bigwigs at Sony to allow us to have this device, the Sony Xperia XZ. …
Following on the recent news of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 batteries catching fire, it appears that one of Apple’s latest flagships suffered the same fate. This time, it was the time for the iPhone 7, which exploded whilst being delivered to its new owner, according to the Reddit user who …
Are you an “OK Google” superuser? To be honest, I’m not. I keep forgetting that it’s there, but today Google has announced an update to the Google Maps app which I think that I will use and be an extremely useful addition. “OK Google” and voice commands …
British motoring association, the RAC, has carried out a survey of motorists. It’s revealed some rather worrying results. The number of motorists illegally using mobile phones while at the wheel is rising. After surveying 1,714 UK motorists it found… 31% of motorists says they used a handheld phone …
Meet the OBi MV1 Worldphone “Obi who?” Good question. They are a Silicon Valley smartphone manufacturer founded in 2014 by former Apple Inc and Pepsi CEO John Sculley. Obi Worldphone manufactures smartphones aimed at the emerging markets, rather than very competitive developed markets. Obi Worldphone launched two of their …
The smartphones of today have come a long, long way from the “bricks” of the 1980s and are capable of doing far more than anyone could have imagined when mobiles were first introduced. You’ll know that already of course. I bumped into someone fairly recently who wanted us …
When I was doing my recent charity bike ride (and, of course, I don’t like to talk about all the good work I do for charidee mate), we had a problem. In the middle of the Lake District we stopped in a bunk house and found that there …
I’ve been an Android user since my first T-Mobile G1 way back in 2008, and as such watched and used Google Maps through its iterations and updates: the introduction of free navigation, the ability to download certain area’s for offline use, etc etc, with each iteration making improvements …
I’ll come right out and say it, I’m a OnePlus fanboy (well more like old man). I’ve had every OnePlus device, I jumped through the companies invite system to get the early devices, and managed to order a OnePlus 3 within minutes of launch via the VR store. …
It’s no secret that despite making some nice devices, Sony has been struggling in the mobile phone space. This has led to severe problems within the rest of the company. This saw a new tack being taken by Sony with the launch of the Xperia X series. Ostensibly, …
There is no denying it OnePlus have definitely hit their mark on the fourth attempt at a phone. This time they promised a flagship killer and according to most reviews (including rather excellent one that can be read here), they nailed it. If there was a fly in ointment at …
BlackBerry, one of the past greats of smartphones, have just announced the DTEK50. This will be their second device running Android after the (also appallingly named) Priv. The Priv was a first for the company – it was the first to run Android rather than its proprietary BB10. Whilst it …
Following on from, (what I always though strangely named) Gorilla Glass 4, Corning has officially announced Gorilla Glass 5. The company states that this latest generation of its strengthened glass will survive up to four times better than competing glass designs. Corning says that in tests the new Gorilla Glass 5 was …
If you’ve been to Glastonbury or a big concert recently, you’ll have noticed the eagerness of some to capture the moment. Some go to extremes – filming entire songs and suppressing their own enjoyment so that they can hold their precious phone stock-steady instead. It can look strange …
As you may know, I was recently out in Shanghai and I was lucky enough to be given a Le Max 2 from LeEco for me to use as my own phone. So in the way of a true tech blogger, I decided I would share the unboxing …
According to the inter-web rumours, the next iteration of the Note series the Note 6…sorry the Note 7 (I don’t know either), is rumoured to have an iris scanner. Now it appears that this latest rumour may have a bit more substance,m and good old leaker @onleaks (who has a …
After the recent ban on the iTunes Movies and iBooks store in China, Apple seem to be heading for some further trouble there. This time around, it is relating to it’s current flagships – the iPhone 6 & 6s. Apple’s been suing Samsung endlessly on patents & design …
I was recently on holiday and when I returned I found that this strange contraption was waiting for me in my hallway. Now for those of you who have followed us a for a while, you will no doubt be familiar with what this is. It is, of course, …
Global mega starlet Adele gets the same treatment that most musicians do on stage. As she looks out across the crowd there’s thousands of arms held aloft…. filming everything on their phone. Indeed, the same can be said for DJ’s, and a live set by Avicii or Fatboy …
There is a new Sony hitting the shelves today, it is the much awaited Xperia X that was announced at MWC 16. This is slightly scaled down version of what went before in the form of the Xperia Z5 range. It shares a lot of features of its …
I am a fan of big screened phones this is something that I don’t try to hide at all. One of my favourite devices of all time was the Xperia Z Ultra from Sony, I have owned 3 of them in the past. I just really liked the size …
Yes I was one of those people that jumped on the invitation merry-go-round to buy the OnePlus One. Oh, and guess what. I did there same a year later for the OnePlus Two. I love OnePlus devices so, when here at Coolsmartphone towers we had a sniff of …
UK carrier O2 has announced they are going to exclusively carry the new LG Stylus 2, which is the first smartphone with DAB radio support*, meaning you’ll be able to enjoy your favorite radio stations without using your data allowance. The device is available right now on O2 …
According to a report published by OpenSignal and consumer watchdog Which?, smartphone users here in the UK only appear to get access to 4G data speeds for about half of the time on average. From the four UK networks tested, EE was found to have the best 4G …
Well it’s looks like the death knell is well and truly ringing for the Blackberry OS, following a sales fall of almost $200m in the three months to the end of February. Further bad news included the announcement that Facebook and its WhatsApp messaging service will no longer …
Yo OnePlus owners waiting for your Marshmallow update still…. It’s coming… it’s on its way… it’s nearly there!! I know this has been said before and has been due from earlier this year. But listen, the word from the company’s co-founder Carl Pei is that the update is in …
Unless you have been living in a cave, with your eyes shut and your fingers in your ears, you will have heard of the recent hoo-ha over a certain company and a law enforcement agency request to unlock an iPhone. This has spiralled into a privacy debate, which …
Today Huawei have just finished their press conference which we covered live with the help of Paul O’Brien from MoDoCo. The event was full of glitz and glamour as their events usually are, and if you wish to relive the blow-by-blow report from the event then take a look …
I love the Google Photos app and, with every iteration, it gets better and better. Google have announced that it will automatically curate the best photos taken during a holiday or an event, then create a new album. All of your holiday snaps will be collated and sorted into your …
The latest flagship device from Huawei is rumoured for release in a couple of weeks. We’ll hopefully see the P9 on the 6th April. However, as is the norm, the interwebs are full of leaked specs and pictures. The latest pictures show a Huawei president using an “unknown …
After what feels like an age it appears that Android Pay is finally making the journey across the pond to the UK. The Telegraph is reporting that Google will launch the mobile payments system in the UK at the end of March. Since Apple Pay’s debut in the …
Long when we thought Windows 10 Mobile wasn’t going to see any support further than the Lumias and the Acer Jade Primo, HP has surprised quite a few people with the announcement of the Elite X3. Yes, that’s right – not only are HP going in on Windows …
Selling a phone in India and apparently made there too is one thing, but selling it for 251 rupee, which is less than $4 or £2.56? For an Android smartphone? Specs then, and you’ll be getting a 4″ qHD IPS screen, 1.3GHz quad-core CPU, 1GB RAM, 8GB storage …
The first Linx tablets shook up the market place when they were first released, they were available in 3 screen sizes, offering good Windows performance at a very reasonable price, they were also easily upgradable to Windows 10. Consumers no longer had to spend a fortune on Windows …
I’m not a huge football fan, admittedly. However, even if you don’t follow the great game you’ll probably have heard about the Villa match this weekend. As a local team, it was all over the sports and news bulletins last night. Aston Villa, and I don’t really think …
When my local police force retweeted it, I honestly thought this was a joke. Do people actually do this? Would anybody be so stupid? Sadly it seems that yes, there are people who do this. It’s not just watching movies or TV shows – something I see truck-drivers …
Information is still extremely limited due to the nature of this bug, but it would appear a simple date change on your iOS device will render the device useless. Any iOS device powered by A7, A8, A8X, A9 or an A9X chip is affected. Those with a 32-bit …
It’s been apparent for a while that you don’t really have a product to release if there aren’t leaks of it before you’re ready to announce. This time it was LG’s turn with the up and coming LG G5, due to be announced on Feb 21 (the same …
