Category: General

Kickstarter Recommended Project: Plugbook

We here at Coolsmartphone are always on the lookout for new technology, technology that can enhance your lifestyle or make a job easier. One such technology that is currently looking for backing on Kickstarter is Plugbook, an innovative solution to the common problem of not having a charger …

Microsoft To Unveil Own Branded Tablet??

  Monday June 18, 3.30pm, A secret venue somewhere in Los Angeles. That is the time the Microsoft has set aside for a cloak and dagger operation where a big announcement is scheduled within which it is speculated that they will reveal their own branded tablet challenger to …

House of Marley Redemption Song Earphones Review

Can eco-friendly, wooden clad, celebrity endorsed earphones really cut it when it comes to multi-platform mobile entertainment, and being a hands-free kit? After reading Simon’s excellent review of the Klipsch S4a Android earphones I was tempted to grab myself a pair. In fact, there was a pair in …

It might be raining, but I can charge my phone and keep dry

With the British summer becoming a bit of a wash-out, Vodafone have stepped up with a solution. It’s an umbrella. Sure, we’ve seen umbrellas before. I’ve got a collection of broken ones in the boot of my car, but none of those will act as a high-gain antenna …

Linus Torvalds uses an Android phone

It’s not the mosy surprising news in the world, especially when the Android kernel is based on his creation, but the BBC interview with Linus Torvalds is well worth a read. Linus talks about the birth of Linux and why, in his opinion, Linux hasn’t cracked the desktop …

Three Announce New EU Roaming Deal

Three have today announced a fantastic new roaming deal which gets the internet in the hands of more people who travel within the EU and like here in the UK there is no need to worry about limits. For £5 you get 24 hours internet access….and best of all it …

Where is the Killer Feature??

Before I start I want to make clear that I am an Android user. I’ve had a play on iOS for a while in its various guises both jailbroken and not and on iPhones and an iPod Touch. I am not a particular fan of Apple devices but …

Updated Spotify For Android Out Of Beta – Now On Google Play

Following the beta launch of their overhauled Android app a few months back, Spotify have now officially released the app on the Google Play store for devices running Eclair (2.1) and higher. The app features an overhauled UI that’s more in line with the Holo ICS theme, and …

Signal Boost – Just why is there no handover?

Signal Boost is something we’ve covered a few times here at Coolsmartphone. Put simply, it’ll route your mobile calls over the nearest WiFi hotspot at no extra charge. It’ll use your text, picture message and voice bundles so there’s no VoIP twiddling to do. When we mentioned Orange …

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 …

Vodafone Launch EuroTraveller Roaming Deal

Vodafone have launched a brand new roaming deal today which is available to both business and non business customers on the UK network.  For a charge of £3 for the day you use your phone you will now be able to take your UK package abroad with you …

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 …

Euro 2012 is coming…….

Euro 2012 is about to kick off and every avid footy fan in Europe and across the world is due to be glued to the telly box watching the beautiful game. There are those who are destined to miss the games due to other commitments.  Work, the dreaded …

Status: OMG! WiFi at the Tube station

Use the Tube? Use one of the stations listed below? Hey, you’re in luck. You’ll soon be bathed in free (for a limited time) WiFi while you stand on the platform. Better still, some stations have been turned on today, so you might start seeing people like this …

O2 and Voda to share network infrastructure

Telefónica UK (O2) and Vodafone UK are to begin “pooling” their two networks – both 900MHz – to create “one national grid running each operator’s independent spectrum.” They’re doing this partially to ensure that 4G coverage can be rolled out as quickly as possible, but also to improve …

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 …

SPB TV Survey findings

A while back we mentioned the SPB were conducting a big survey about mobile TV usage. Well the survey is over now. SPB have compiled all of the results and come up with some interesting statistics. If you want even more stats with some graphs then head over …

Google Acquires Quick Office – Android Integration imminent?

Google have today announced the acquisition of Quickoffice, the office productivity company. Google say: We’re happy to announce that we have acquired Quickoffice, a leader in office productivity solutions. Today, consumers, businesses and schools use Google Apps to get stuff done from anywhere, with anyone and on any …

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 …

The Samsung Galaxy S3 and The USA

The Galaxy S3 is finally heading to the United States of America! Samsung have announced the phone for the five mobile carriers over in the United States all in one sweep. The device will start on the biggest four carriers for around $199 on a two year contract and …

Three Remove TrafficSense For High Users

Three have now stopped the TrafficSense service for restricting speed to the top 5% of users duringi peak times TrafficSense™ is there to help make sure all our customers get a fair share of our network. We continue to develop and refine it. The initial trial of one …

Google v Microsoft…and the wars go on

At first there was the US Department of Justice, then there was the European Union.  More recently there have been battles with HTC, Samsung, Motorola and now a war of attrition seems to be building with Google. Microsoft’s lawyers must be laughing all the way to the bank. …

HTC Desire C – Now available on Three

Everyone is pretty skint at the moment so, although we weren’t expecting it, the Desire C is pretty good value. You can pick one up on Pay As You Go with Three for £149.99. Their “All in One 15″ package costs £15 and gives 30-day access to all-you-can-eat …

Vodafone launch the Smart II – A smartphone for £70

We’ve just added our review of the Huawei Y 100 a bargain-basement handset. Now, Vodafone have one too, and they’re selling it for just 70. It’s obviously the follow-up to their Smart and runs Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and has a 3.2″ HVGA screen. All the usual GPS, WiFi …

Coolsmartphone Survey: Customer Service and Mobile Operators

This is a liveblog……. We at Coolsmartphone are in the process of compiling a survey around Customer service from the major mobile operators in the UK. For this we need your help.  We need your experiences, good, bad or indifferent, in order to give us a general overview …

Everything Everywhere redesigns Customer Service, to be Handset based

Everything Everywhere, the company formed by the merger of Orange and T-Mobile have revealed a complete revamp of their customer service division with what they claim is a revolutionary change in the way their service is delivered. Everything Everywhere are to invest £50 million on stores, customer facing …

HSBC Release Fast Balance App for Android

Following our article on the major banking apps, HSBC have today released their Fast Balance app for Android smartphones. After a short registration process whereby you have to confirm your telephone number and personal details as well as entering your card numbers and setting up a security code, …

Deal Of The Day: 12 month SIM-only with £100 Cashback

Posted over in our forums today by Nitram_cpr is a rather good deal on the Three network. I am currently on Tesco PayG but am always looking for good deals and found this: http://www.quidco.com/three/ Basically if you sign up for a 12 month sim only deal you’ll get £100 …

Vodafone Price Changes for Pay Monthly Customers

Vodafone have made some changes to their charges for certain elements for pay monthly customers. From 1st July 2012, customers who go over their monthly data allowance will have a charge of £5 for an additional 250MB levied,  also the cost of calling 118 500 or 118 404 …

RIM Reports operating loss, jobs to go

Overnight Research In Motion (RIM) announced “significant” job cuts and has warned it will make a loss in the latest quarter. Chief Exec, Thorsten Heins, stated that… The on-going competitive environment is impacting our business in the form of lower volumes and highly competitive pricing dynamics in the …

LG Debuts First Full HD Smartphone Screen

LG has today revealed the worlds first “Full HD” handset screen.  It is an Advanced High Performance In-Plane Switching LCD ith a 1920 x 1080 resolution.  This means a pixel density of 440ppi and is equivalent to the resolution now found on most flatscreen TV’s. LG has been rumoured to …

Facebook Phone rumours get louder

The HTC Salsa and ChaCha have already brought “Facebook Phones” to stores across the UK, but since they were launched early last year there’s been rumour after rumour mentioning a device bearing the Facebook brand. Now the New York Times have echoed earlier rumours from Digitimes stating that …

Speck Candyshell, Flip and Satin, Review

Speck have been manufacturing cases for iOS devices for many years and have earned themselves a reputation as somewhat of a veteran in the market. Not a company to rest on its laurels they are constantly refining old designs whilst simultaneously releasing new ones. Read on for my …

Sony Xperia U gets priced on T-Mobile, and it’s cheap!

The sexy Xperia U, which we snapped in Barcelona, is now available on T-Mobile for a mere £15.50 per month. It’ll be hitting retail stores in the next few days and, during the two year contract, you’ll get 250MB of data, 500 texts and 100 minutes per month …

Coolsmartphone now an official supporter of 4G Britain.

      Here at Coolsmartphone we are always on the lookout for new technologies, innovations and companies that push the boundaries.  We have reported on new product launches, mobile conferences, new applications and new operating systems. It is for that reason we are extremely pleased to announce …