Category: General

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 …

iFoosball HD

I have just lost half an hour of my life completely engrossed in iFoosball HD for the iPad. The game itself is takes me back to a happy place when I had time to spare on one hand, and a pint in the other, so there’s an instant …

Android Still on the rise, Blackberry still on the drop.

A little while ago I posted regarding the loss of market share for Blackberry and how Android is gaining as the days and months go past. Well, these figures have been confirmed once again as IDC have published their latest figures for Quarter 1 2012 showing shipments and …

Are you feeling hot tonight? Phone your oven

Are your spuds constantly getting burned? Having trouble with your cakes going flat? Everything Everywhere and AGA ovens have a solution. SIM cards are to be slipped inside new AGA iTotal Control ovens to give you complete control over your control knobs. Using an app, text or website …

Google+ for Android Updated and Beautified

Google have today release an update for their social networking app, Google+. The app has now been updated and the following features have been added: Initiate a Hangout from the main menu Support for ringing hangout notification Support for post editing Messenger suggestions for people you may know …

Because we may – BIG game sale on Google Play

Starting earlier today, several developers have got together to celebrate the fact that they can set their own pricing when selling their wares online. The end result is that there are many games that have gone onsale with same rather big titles included. We believe that developers should have …

Grab a bargain – Grand Theft Auto III on Android

Android gaming is growing and with a target market of some 300 million + handsets running Google’s operating system is it not really a surprise! Now, Rockstar games is helping the gaming cause by putting Grand Theft Auto III on special offer and making it available for only …

Samsung Sound Horn Review

So, whilst I can’t review any Galaxy SIII accessories yet, I can at least review some Galaxy SII accessories instead. This is called the Samsung Galaxy S2 Sound Station Sound Horn, but I’m just going to call it the “Sound Horn” because it’s a lot better for my …

AbsolutePower Dual USB Wall Charger Review

We get a number of accessories to review here at Coolsmartphone. This one has taken a while to arrive, but it’s simple and effective. It won’t take a great deal to describe and there’s not a great deal of complexity about it, but that’s always a good thing …

Price increases on Three – Customers informed

Times are hard, there’s a recession on and prices have risen. Three have now started increasing the cost of some plans and this morning Liam received an email about his £35-a-month plan… From 16 July 2012 we’re changing our prices and putting up your monthly bill by 3.6%. …

Opinion: Handset Makers, Not Good enough, Must Try Harder

It is seven months since the launch of the latest incantation of Google’s mobile operating system,  Ice Cream Sandwich. Since October 19th 2011, there have been 3 revisions and the OS is now on version 4.0.4 Within a few days of the release of the SDK, ROMs started …

The Olympic torch live – thanks to the mobile networks

So, this summer is going to be rather big here in the UK. The Queen is having a bit of a bash shortly and, in a couple of months, we’ll be hosting the ruddy Olympics. Before each Olympic torch is sold on eBay it actually gets held aloft …

HTC Handsets Released By US Customs

HTC Have confirmed that certain models of it handsets that have been held by US customs awaiting clearance have been released after last week warning of a delay in shipping. The HTC One X and HTC EVO 4G LTE have both been subject to delays due to customs …

HTC reportedly making a Tizen phone too.

   Since Nokia chose to depart from their ex-partner Intel, the pair’s love child, Meego, was expected to become a somewhat neglected entity. But, it wasn’t long before Samsung, amongst many others, picked up the buck and started building Tizen and it seems they haven’t looked back yet. …

STM Scout Review

I’ve been on the lookout for a bag to cart about my gadgets when going places. I needed something that wasn’t obviously a laptop bag (for fear of being mugged) but something that offered just as much protection. The STM Scout is the bag I chose to try …

Lookout Mobile Security – In Depth.

I have been interested in technology since I first saw a teacher programming an old ZX80 when I was about 9 years old.  I remember sitting with my dad as he programmed his Commodore Amiga, the old PC’s in college that used the then massive 1.44mb floppy disk …

Samsung S-Voice for Android Leaked

It looks like the industrious members of XDA have once again gotten their hands on a nice leaked app for us to play with. First it was Flipboard, this time its the S-Voice app from the Galaxy SIII. In case your memory needs refreshing, S-Voice is Samsungs version …

Sony Smart Wireless Headset Pro Arrives at Clove on 25th May

Added to my rather long “I want one of those” list is the new Smart Wireless Headset Pro. This universal accessory offers premium stereo sound, MP3 player, FM radio and an Android remote that displays messages, caller names, media titles and more. You can even call a contact …

Samsung Cares

Hands up.  Come on, admit it.  You think that mobile phone manufacturers are after one thing and one thing only, your hard earned money. Well, not Samsung.  No because Samsung Cares. At least, that is the name of their newly released app.  The app, available on Google Play, …

Carphone Warehouse to get Pink Galaxy Note

Samsung’s Galaxy Note has so far been one of the surprises in the mobile arena.  A sort of half breed, stuck somewhere between a tablet and a phone, the Note has won many admirers and sold by the bucketload. To further enhance those sales and desirability, Carphone Warehouse have announced …

Panasonic Eluga dL1 Review

Panasonic, long missing from the smartphone arena, have finally made the decision to enter the European market.  Their first foray is the Eluga dL1 and thanks to the kind people of Expansys we’ve gold hold of one to review. The Panasonic Eluga is a fantastic looking device.  Have …

Diabloskinz – HTC One Series and a discount code

Skin site Diabloskinz have added designs for the new HTC One X and One V, as well as lots of new content. If you’re not familiar with Diabloskinz, they make quality vinyl skins for mobile phones, tablets, games consoles and laptops, giving your device a new look, as …

Three Announce New HSPA+ Value MiFi

Three today announced their new budget version MiFi device, budget but just as good as the other HSPA+ MiFi on sale at the moment with the only real change being the display.  Ignore that and you have a HSPA+ device which still allows for up to 21Mbs connections …

Apple readies iPhone with larger screen (Reuters)

Reality check … is this true? Apple are readying a 4″ display on the next iPhone…. Well Reuters (and WSJ) appear to believe this to be true….. It is being quoted that production of the screens has already begun at LG, Sharp and Japan Display manufacturers…. we could …