Category: General
OK! Ready for this. Strap yourself in for another random Android gadget. This one comes thanks to my cousin, who spotted it on HotUKDeals. This one works out at about £12.54 and is sent from Hong Kong. It’s basically a media player running Android 4.0.4 and has, we …
Pebble backers will be receiving an email hinting at the Pebble watch being shipped some time after CES 2013 with an announcement being streamed live @ 09:00hrs PST (17:00 GMT) on Wednesday 9th January I like many backers can’t wait to get my hands on my new bit …
When the idea was put forward that we should do a series of posts on what we would like to see in 2013 I realised that there’s been one thing on my smartphone wishlist every year since I can remember: Better battery life I’m no expert in battery …
I’ve always been a two handset user whenever possible for more years than I’d like to think about. It helped me balance any deficiencies in any one handset, and whilst I’ve had a preference for one type of handset over the other for certain things, there was never a …
After an eternity of waiting and speculation, it seems the elusive ASUS Nexus 7 dock may be about to hit the United States and Europe this month. In the Netherlands, AndroidWorld.nl has word from ASUS Benelux that the dock will arrive in mid-January. Prices are speculated to be …
Remember the countdown timer on the Ubuntu site yesterday? Well, today we found out what it meant – Ubuntu is coming to a smartphone near you. Initially released for the Galaxy Nexus, the new operating system promises features such as ‘one search to rule them all’ and looks …
Three have been offering unlimited internet under the brand ‘All you can eat’ for a while now and is the main reason they are the biggest network for data in the UK with some great offers and the fact you no longer have to worry about how much …
Putting together an iOS wishlist isn’t actually too easy. Year after year, Apple has slowly been filling in the little gaps, to the point where iOS is now a fairly mature offering. That said, there are still a few things I’d love to see from Apple come WWDC’s …
Let’s be brutally honest shall we? The flashy smartphones we write about daily are expensive. If you want to buy one without a contract then you’ll need around £500 for a top-end handset. Most of us find that fighting to get a Nexus 4 (which is considerably cheaper) …
Do you have a bad mobile signal in the one place you want to use it most? It’s a more common problem than you may think. Whilst networks do their utmost to provide the best service they can, it’s hard for them to legislate for people with basement …
Ubuntu, for those who aren’t aware, is a Linux OS based on Debian. It’s free, open source and has a desktop UI. It’s got quite a following and has breathed life into a range of netbooks and PC’s. However, with smartphones now having specs equal to advanced PC’s …
It’s been another fantastic year in the smartphone world, with new devices seemingly appearing on a monthly basis. Sales wise, its been dominated by the usual suspects (Samsung & Apple), but they’ve been far from the only show in town. After much heated debate (filling in a Google …
Apple is rumoured to be working on its own version of the iWatch. It’ll use the previous version of the iPod Nano and Intel chips to provide a new interface for the best-selling iPhone. Makers of Apple accessories have already raised more than $10m to make a watch …
Phone protection…. there’s two schools of thought regarding this. Some people like to put their phone in a nice protective case, while others like to keep their phone naked. I like the middle ground. A slim bumper case and a screen protector. I know the sales man in …
Following an extremely successful Kickstarter project, OUYA Consoles are now shipping. They’re arriving after the developer portal went live and the OUYA dev kit is now ready for download too. For those who aren’t aware, the new OUYA console is an Android-powered device that’ll let you play …
The first 4G network in the UK called EE use twitter to communicate with their customers and try to help out as best as possible without having to call customer services. Whilst results so far have been rather mixed and a lot of people (myself included) never getting …
We picked up the news on Christmas eve, but some of us weren’t able to post up in a timely fashion (I was busy doing Christmas things, my bad). However the BlackBerry has been spied and that traditional blurrycam has the pictures to prove it. As an …
Recently, I’ve found myself needing to replace my ageing bluetooth headphones. The pads are wearing out, and Sony don’t make them any more. Whilst there have been quite a few pairs of headphones that have caught my eye recently, my requirements dictated that I wanted something with Excellent …
HTC are in a dark place at the moment and they’re obviously looking for new product ranges to sell. Their recent move into the phablet arena is an example of this. Bloomberg have reported that HTC are working on two tablets, a 12″ one and most interestingly a …
We knew the auction for LTE Spectrum was due to start in January 2013, but we didn’t know who would be bidding. Until now. 7 Bidders have finally been announced by Ofcom as qualified to offer us our lovely high speed, long distance cellular goodness. The bidders will …
The team we have here at Coolsmartphone is an excellent one. We all enjoy voicing our opinions and get on really well with each other. Well, with Jamie and Ravi on the podcasts you wouldn’t always think so. Anyway, with some changes coming to the site in the …
The guys over at MobileFun have sent us an extended battery case for the iPhone 5. The Power Jacket is the first extended battery case to enter the market for the iPhone 5 and we have the privilege of getting one. First impressions when getting it out of …
Good news for customers today as Vodafone announced on the official blog that the Nokia Lumia 920 is soon to make an appearance on their network. This is clearly important news as EE have had the exclusivity on the flagship Nokia since its UK launch however this …
In a totally unexpected twist a few of the networks today have announced they are going to be selling BB10 devices next year. Not that this is totally unpredictable. A network selling devices on a new OS. Well I never. It has started with official announcements from EE, …
If you’ve got an S3 and want a little more battery life, the official and genuine battery kit will be available in around 8 weeks from now. It’ll match the colour of your blue or white Samsung Galaxy S3 and will cost £39.99. Not only is the battery …
It won’t even be officially announced until the end of January, but preorders are already up for BB10 devices. Unfortunately for us in Blighty, its for the Rogers network in Canada, so they’re likely to be the CDMA variant of the handset, but at least there’s one network …
Wowzers trousers. Google Maps has reportedly been downloaded for iOS more than 10 million times in 48 hours.That’s 5% of iOS 6 devices in under two days. Most impressive. Jamie and myself discussed the app briefly in this week’s podcast. In short, it’s great. It looks terrific and performs …
Following on from our previous article Mobile-review.com have a set of images of the new Sony Yuga, rumoured to be making an appearance at CES in January. The device has some rather crazy specs, a 3ghz processor, 128gb of storage, and a 16MP camera to name a few. It looks …
Grokr, lauded as a ‘Google Now for iOS’, has been launched in the U.S. App Store. Feedback from the trial has been widely positive, so we’re anxious to see how it performs in real world tests. Hopefully it’ll show up in the UK app store. We’ll update you …
Android, Blackberry OS, iOS, Windows Phone – All current(ish) mobile operating systems and all with their own good points and foibles. I have never made any bones about the fact that I am an Android user. I have had a few Blackberry devices but moved on once the …
Many of us who use Google as our email service have been used to the very handy way of syncing contacts, emails and calendar entries using the ‘Exchange’ setup as it only needed your email address, password and the server which was always m.google.com However we have just …
Since the Nexus 4 became available and then promptly sold out on the Play store a few weeks ago, thousands of customers have been waiting for their orders to be delivered and even more have been waiting just for the opportunity to place an order. Anyone who listened …
EE today have introduced the first Android tablets to their range of devices accompanying the iPad and iPad mini. As of today, you can get the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 LTE or Google Nexus 7 by ASUS bundle (paired with Huawei E589 Mobile Wi-Fi) Price details are included …
Looking for a Nexus 4? Whilst generally browsing around and I’ve been checking different websites to see what’s available. I think I’ve found a bargain. The guys over at Digital Phone Company sell Vodafone contracts and they have discounted the Nexus 4. They’re showing the 16GB variant as …
BBC iPlayer was updated late this evening so that it now works on Android devices running version 4.2 Jellybean. Whilst users who already had the app installed then upgraded to 4.2 had a working version, those who had a fresh install or new device couldn’t download either iPlayer …
If you’re a Vodafone customer who’s unfortunate enough to live, work or generally frequent a signal blackspot area then you may be interested in one of their signal boosters: the Sure Signal, which has now been redesigned and improved. These are nifty little boxes that plug into a …
If you’re an O2 customer, this information may not be welcome but we thought you’d like to know. As of the 28th February 2013 you will see an increase in your monthly charges. 3.2% increase to be exact, 99p per month for £31 per month plan. A small …
Working in retail store for a network is quite possibly the best way to meet ill-informed people, most of the time this mis-information is minor and forgivable such as calling a BlackBerry a Blueberry or asking if we stock the HTC as if there is only one. Now …
Wallbase is one of my favourite websites for tracking down wallpapers for my phones, tablets, laptops and desktops. In the Android world there is quite a nice third party app to serve up some wallpapers to me. In the Windows Phone world it’s something I’ve always missed. Having …
During our testing of the EE 4G network we found a blob of LTE coverage tucked away in Sutton Coldfield. Now Sutton Coldfield, along with 16 other towns and cities, are to be bathed in 4G coverage by March. The list includes five other areas close to me …
