Category: General

HP heading back into the smartphone game?

So what happens when you drop a couple of billion dollars on a fledgling smartphone operating system, make a couple of phones and a tablet with it and then fire sale the lot? Well if your name’s HP you might realise you made a little mistake! For HP, …

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 …

How I get by without Internet abroad

Several times a year I go on holiday, I like to totally disconnect from the world. No Internet, no work, no contact with home. Just me, the wife and our cameras. The internet is a huge resource for the traveller, before we go away we print off no …

Three taking pre-orders for the iPhone 5

Three are also taking pre-orders for the iPhone and their prices are looking similar to the ones Vodafone announced earlier. 16GB in white or black The One Plan 24 month contract ·         All-you-can-eat data ·         2000 any network minutes ·         5000 texts ·         5000 Three-to-Three minutes £36 a …

Vodafone are taking pre-orders for the iPhone 5

Vodafone have started to take pre-orders for the upcoming iPhone 5. Here are their prices. Example pricing and details for iPhone (24 month contracts): Plan 100 Plan Vodafone Red Vodafone Red Red Data Monthly Fee £25 £37 £42 £47 Voice (minutes) 100 Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Texts Unlimited Unlimited …

Talk to us, we’re listening

We have a dedicated team of techy authors here at Coolsmartphone towers, but most of what you see here is a result of your tips and suggestions. If you have any news that we should be covering, do let us know via our contact page. Oh, and no, …

Bose announces some mobile-friendly speakers

Bose today announced a couple of new speaker systems – namely the new SoundLink Air and SoundLink Bluetooth II. The SoundLink Air is the first AirPlay set of speakers from Bose, allowing you to send music to the speaker from your iOS device or iTunes library via WiFi. …

iPhone 5 – 4G capability will only work on EE in the UK

Orange and T-Mobile, in the shape of “EE”, grabbed headlines earlier this week by rolling out UK’s first 4G service. That left Vodafone and O2 green with envy, waiting for a slice of the 4G pie through the auctions. O2 are now pushing hard to get their 4G …

Ask us a question for our podcast – Episode 14

It’s that time of the week again, where a few of us gather round our microphones and pretend to listen to what the others are saying whilst playing Angry Birds on our latest review unit. Yes it’s our podcast and as usual we will be recording it tonight …

Three to carry the iPhone 5

Three have just confirmed to us that they will make the iPhone 5 available from next Friday, September 21st. To get more details on this new Apple handset, check out our iPhone details or dive into the pictures below. No word yet on pricing, but we do know …

My iOS experiment – Part 2

A few weeks ago I realised something, I was often explaining to people about how I use Windows Phone and Android on a daily basis. I realised there was another option. No not Symbian, I’m talking about iOS. I have never used an iPhone, an iPad or any …

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 …

Three to launch 4G – EE 4G monopoly to be short lived?

EE had their big launch yesterday, and will become the UK’s first 4G network – but for how long? A running joke developed over the day about what rival network Three would call itself once it launched a 4G service, but the bigger question would be how EE’s …

Confirmed – iPhone 5 will run on 4G, coming to EE

The new iPhone, to be launched this evening will, as expected, run on EE’s new 4G network. It’s been rumoured for a while that the new iPhone will contain 4G technology, and while EE would only say “other devices will follow very soon” yesterday, a source has confirmed …

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 …

4G – Backhaul is key

Many months ago we performed some slightly unscientific speed tests and came to the conclusion that “traffic management” was active on certain mobile networks. Our tests at the time showed that a 3G / HSPDA connection never seemed to deliver more than 2Mbps whilst other networks delivered more …

iOS app review – 5K Runmeter

All my life I’ve been a hopeless runner. No matter how hard I tried I’ve never been able to run for more than a couple of minutes. I was determined to change that, so a few months ago I started following the Couch to 5k program, and lo …

Viewsonic announce the VSD220 22″ Android AIO Smart Display

Yesterday was a little bit dominated by Everything Everywhere and their 4G announcement, but there was something else interesting announced yesterday and that was the VSD220. Viewsonic announced it back at MWC earlier on in the year. It is basically a mains powered 22″ 1080p tablet with a …

Nano SIMs Are Real – Vodafone Has Them

Vodafone has now had a delivery of Nano SIMs. Could they have got any smaller from the current Micro SIM, yes! With a delivery of 500,000 of the new SIMs we have found some images courtesy of Vodafone themselves. With manufacturers making handsets slimmer, the smaller sim makes …

Opinion: EE & 4G – Is the Future Bright, is it iPhone?

Olaf Swantee, CEO of Everything Everywhere took to the stage at the science museum in London this morning and declared that his new brand EE is the future.  The future of digital Britain, the future of telecommunications on these fair islands. It was a slick presentation, extolling the …

Where Do Your Allegiances Lie?

It may only be Tuesday and we’re yet to see what Apple have to offer (and I think we all know what that will be) but this week is already pretty exciting. We have our first concrete promise of 4G and from EE (formerly Everything Everywhere) and they’ve …

GiffGaff making changes to Goodybag Data Bundles.

GiffGaff, the MVNO run by the same company who brought you O2, have announced a consultation period to give customers a chance to decide how the company changes its data bundles. GiffGaff says this is due to higher wholesale costs and that they are “Re-visiting our Mobile Internet …

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, …

EE 4G. All the details, plus Lumia 820 and 920 on the way

Orange is now history, as is T-Mobile, at least from a marketing perspective. Everything Everywhere has taken a back seat too, with “EE” being the new brand going forward. You can sign up for updates on 4G and all the latest info at their new site – ee.co.uk. …

Nokia 920 to grab EE exclusive?

With just minutes to go until the Everything Everywhere launch we’re expecting the launch of 4G and possible handset exclusivity on the new faster network. The Financial Times is stating that the new Nokia Lumia 920 could be a network exclusive on EE. If Nokia could get its’ …

Huawei To Invest £1.2bn in UK

Huawei are to announce tomorrow investment in the UK that could total up to £1.2 billion.  The Chinese telecoms giant is pledging to create at least 700 jobs in the UK over the next 5 years which will mean a direct investment of some £600 million. A further …

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 …

Cleaning out a dirty hole

Yesterday my rather battered Samsung Galaxy SII started doing something weird. It seemed to develop magical powers, and was charging even when it wasn’t plugged in. I plugged and then unplugged it and it seemed to correct the problem but, after a few hours, it happened again. I …

SGP iPhone 5 Glas.t Premium Screen Protector

With the launch of the new iPhone now only hours away and anticipation starting to build, the first iPhone 5 cases, covers and screen protectors are now starting to appear for sale. One such screen protector is the SGP Glas.t Premium Screen Protector. Made from a “high-tension tempered glass” …

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 …

Opinion: Android’s “iceberg ahead” moment?

The launch of Windows Phone 8 has thrown Microsoft’s phone efforts back into the spotlight, and how it has struggled to gain market share over Apple and Android. With yet another relaunch of a mobile OS, Microsoft and its embattled partner Nokia (or future purchase), certainly have their …

Why I thought the Nokia event was amazing

We’ve had a few personal opinions of the Nokia Lumia launch opinion recently. I thought I should perhaps share my thoughts because I really don’t agree. I have been using Windows Phone for a while now, along with Android and recently iOS, so I like to feel I …

DIY iPhone stand

Want to be eco-friendly? Try this Eco iP4 stand. It’s made from a simple piece of A4 card and supports your iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S. You can also use the USB cable at the bottom too. Best yet, you don’t even need to have it delivered. Just …

New excitement on Kickstarter

We’re all about the cool and funky here at CoolSmartPhone.com. It’s true to say we love a bit of innovation and being on the leading edge of news. But we also love the art of the possible and have stumbled upon what could quite possibly be the sexiest, …

Unlimited calls, texts and more data. Voda go into the Red

Today Vodafone have launched a new set of plans called “Vodafone Red”. For £29 a month you’ll receive unlimited calls and texts, plus 1GB of data. If that’s not enough, for £34 a month you can “Red Data” and receive 2GB of internet allowance each month. Available from …