Category: Opinion
And more importantly – what’s the point? I’ve personally never understood the need for a SmartWatch. Perhaps it’s because of the reported short battery life on some models, or it’s because I’m never separated from my phone, but I never really ‘got it’. However, I’ve become aware that the …
So with MWC 15 having drawn to a close last Thursday, I have recovered enough to get my thought rallied into some sort of order. I want to have a look back and have a think about my top 3 things that I saw at Congress. The list …
Reader’s beware: this is very much a first world problem! Nonetheless, for those interested in tech matters it is a real issue. So, without further ado, here’s my story. Much has been written lately about long-time Windows Phone users switching to other platforms. This article blames the update …
Many months ago I took the plunge, I did what many phone enthusiasts do, I pre ordered a phone from a company with a history of buggy software, dodgy memory setup and questionable update policies. Yes I’m talking about Oppo and my Find 7a. So here I am …
I have been dabbling in tablets for a while now. It all started when the first gen iPad hit the shelves in the UK. Now, whilst all these tablets are great and they all performed admirably during the time I had them, my needs have quite simply evolved …
As promised, I’m writing all the Coolsmartphone content this weekend on my phone. It’s part of #acerliveblog2014. There’s a number of challenges facing rail commuters still, even in our modern world of 4G communications, HD video and on-demand content. It’s not always the trains themselves though. On the …
Wondering how the makers of mobile apps can afford TV advertising when they’re free to download? Well, we seem to quite like a model named “Freemium”. The word itself, which is a mash-up of “free” and “premium”, means that you get the entire game or app for absolutely …
Bear with me here, because I’m in a rather strange mood after listening to a pirate radio DJ shouting “Oh my days” several times this morning and “Oi Oi” quite a lot. I think it’s gone to my head. Nokia, as you’ll know already, is dead. We all …
In my eyes the modern camera phone market things are becoming a little bit stagnant. Most new phones arrive to a fanfare of propaganda about how the camera performs amazingly in low light, when being moved around and that it takes video unlike any other device, ever. But …
Let’s get the what right out of the way: There’s been a tip from a trusted source that CPW will have the new Nexus device on sale on 1 November. Interesting, right? That gives all us all sorts of possible timelines to work with. But what does that …
Innovation is a much abused word these days, manufacturers toss the word around like many other clichéd words and phrases in their press releases and promotional materials, sales reps blurt it out regarding every last tiny feature whatever they are trying to sell has. Even I’m contributing to …
Its just a normal run of the mill day. Get up, make the kids breakfast, have a shower, check if that pesky direct debit was actually paid, drop the kids off at school, book that private jet to Paris, head off to work. What, you don’t book a …
In the mobile industry the word “flagship” is banded around a lot, it refers to any manufacturers current top end device. With every company out there having one it’s often hard to decide which one you want for yourself. I’m lucky enough to have a few of them …
Thought that might get your attention 😉 Imagine the scene, you are on a bus /train/aeroplane/horse drawn cart or other mode of transport. You are minding your own business and get off without a care in the world. A while later you go to get your phone and …
My history with Windows Phone has been a colourful one, starting with the rather unique Dell Venue Pro, then moving onto the tiny little Nokia Lumia 800, then what I thought was huge at the time HTC Titan and then the HTC 8X and then it was Nokia …
I now have 3 very good smartphones with awesome cameras in my possession, so it would make sense for me to do a “camera face off”. We are going to compare the Nokia Lumia 1020 and Xperia Z1 against the new-comer – the Huawei P7. The test is …
Friday. I think something is happening to me. At work, during my lunch hour, I did my usual trip to the supermarket to get a sandwich. Like many, I filled the period of “dead time” by faffing about with my phone. Twitter, Facebook, the news, checking email. The …
Yesterday we brought you the news that Vodafone have announced the release of their own branded Smart 4 Mini Android smartphone. It’ll set you back less than a tank of petrol at £50 on pay as you go. Wow! Before you rush out to the nearest Vodafone store, …
We’re often told that the first steps in dealing with a problem is to accept that you have one. I have a problem. There, it is out in the open. The problem with my problem, if you’ll excuse the repetition, is that I don’t really see it as a …
Is it just me? Every time I pick up the iPad I find that my wife has been on some estate agent website looking at house. She tells me that she doesn’t want to move, and if we’re honest here the real reason is just to have a …
Stand aside Pebble, Toq, Samsung and all you other smartphone wannabes, a true technological genius is about to rip up your business plans and take the market by storm! That’s right, Will.i.am, a musician who previously failed to revolutionise the iPhone camera with the i.am+ megapixel enhancer, is …
My wife has been asking me about this and, somehow, I’ve ended up finding out more information about it. See, there’s this online fashion store called Zalando. They do lots of clothes, shoes and fashion items. Believe me, if you could see my bank account you’d see how …
Yeah, yeah. Cloud storage. Bla bla bla. I’m one of those annoying people who actually prefers having a massive 32GB microSD card in my phone. Sure, if my phone goes missing I’ve lost everything, but I’ve got something physical and heck … I just don’t like change sometimes. …
How many of you lovely readers have a favourite manufacturer or always upgrade to the next iteration of a range, be it the latest iPhone or the latest Galaxy? If you do, then you are one of a number of loyal upgraders. In the case of the iPhone …
When we first heard it, we were blown away by the audaciousness of those GooglePlex dwellers. Its long been a bone of contention between the Android faithful and those who prefer Apple’s way of doing things, but when the rumours of PBT were posted up on the code.google …
It has come to that time again, the one that occurs every two years and send shivers down the spine of every mobile phone addict… upgrade time. As yet I haven’t had the barrage of phone calls from my network asking me to upgrade to whatever random handset …
I’ve fancied a change for a while now, something totally different, a change of OS, a change of apps, processes, gestures, hardware and even size. I don’t know what’s happened to me, my normal daily setup of a Nokia Lumia 1020 and a Nexus 5 just isn’t doing …
A strange thing occurred to me recently. My local high street seems to have less and less shops open. The stores that were there are now behind shutters and the people, it seems, are behind closed doors too. Even those stores that fare well in tough times, such …
Welcome to the next edition of the Coolsmartphone writers’ wish list for 2014, in which we hope to entertain, spark discussion, and secretly hope that the design gurus for all major manufacturers are hanging on our every word. I have a bone to pick with James’ comment that …
A few weeks ago I got a bit carried away, I accidentally bought two Nexus 5 in the crazy initial rush to buy one before the all of the stock disappeared, I didn’t need one, I didn’t really want one, I suppose I just felt obliged to buy …
Last year we all wrote up our hopes and dreams for the year to come, I wrote about Windows Phone as it’s something I’m fond of and the other guys will all just want to write about Android. So here we go, here is what I would like …
Many months ago I watched this YouTube video showing a baby using an iPad. The baby seems to have grasped the iPad interface pretty well, but is then presented with a magazine. Expecting it to work the same, they tried to swipe the pictures around the magazine. Sure, …
Those Google Streetview cars have definitely given us all a valuable new tool. TV shows and news broadcasts always tend to use the Streetview images to get a quick visual and they supplement the existing top-down maps very well indeed. Sure, there was a fair amount of controversy …
There have been many words spoken and written regarding the apparent lack of care taken by Apple, Microsoft and Google to protect our oh so innocent children from the perils of in app purchases and warning parents to beware of said children spending thousands of their hard earned …
Whether it’s for the right reasons or not, Nokia are a big name in the mobile industry. They’ve been a market leader, they’ve nearly gone bust, they’ve jumped onto the Windows Phone boat, they’ve gone and got themselves bought out by Microsoft and this week we saw the …
Apple announced a plethora of new software and hardware at its event on Tuesday. While we don’t really cover laptops and desktops, there still plenty of mobile goodies to discuss. iPad Air As a massive iPad fan, I was particularly looking forward to seeing what the iPad 5 …
The Nokia Lumia 1020 is an amazing camera, that in the right hands can take some truly stunning photos and it can easily replace your point and shoot. But at what cost? Does Windows Phone support the Lumia 1020 enough? From the day I first saw the leak …
The world of smartphones never ceases to evolve, even if the pace of the innovations may have slowed a little. The big question is where next for smartphones? We have pretty much established who the key players are in the marketplace and although we do have choices of …
The Galaxy Round & the LG Flex. Is it me or does it seem that over excited employees at Samsung & LG who cracked the curved screen conundrum have released seemingly “pointless” handsets? In my head it’s a battle of two warring nerd’s hell-bent on outdoing each other! …
Now that the dust has settled, I’ve had a chance to think about the announcements that Apple made on Tuesday, without getting caught up in the heat of the moment. Overall, I think Apple did well, even if they left many disappointed. iPhone 5S Flagship phones are getting …
