Category: General

Christmas Wishes from CoolSmartPhone

We're now running at well over 9 million hits per month according to the stats, which continues to rise month by month. I love doing this site because of the supportive and appreciative emails dropping into my inbox, so today I just wanted to say a ma...

Crazy Frog gets £40,000 fine

Oh shame, the ringtone provider behind the demon cartoon character from hell has been fined £40,000 by phone regulator "Icstis". The ruling which can be found here - states that.. "......following the receipt of consumer complaints by ICSTIS ... in...

Gigabyte g-Smart with Push Email and TV

This is the Gigabyte g-Smart Pocket PC Phone with built-in TV and radio (not digital though), a 2.1 mega pixel camera, Windows Mobile 5.0, a free 256Mb MiniSD card, Bluetooth, WiFi AND Push Email! Although currently only available in Taiwan, it is at ...

Podcast 16 Online

What better thing to do on a Friday than record a huge great Christmas Podcast! This is a big-ass mother of a Podcast, with news of the C600, Visto trouble, free games, the Samsung i300, the MDA Compact II, our reviews and me being raced by some dude …

Visto launches a triple attack against MS

It's all kicked off today in the "push email" arena. True "push email" is promised on Windows Mobile devices early in 2006, however a company called Visto have taken great exception to the technology being used by Microsoft to do this, saying that it ...

Mio A201 GPS Device now available

The Register are reporting the launch of the Mio A201 GPS-ready Pocket PC device. Although slightly larger it does have a flap and swivel GPS unit so that you can use the sat-nav display in any orientation you please. It also comes with the SiRFStar I...

Cingular 2125 Goes On Sale

So we've already mentioned that the Orange SPV C600 is on sale here in the UK, plus we've reviewed it too. Well, today you can now also get the American cousin of the SPV C600 in the shape of the Cingular 2125. The "bulgy version" is now on …

Atomiclava Closes Down

The much-praised mobile photo-blogging service at AtomicLava.net is to close its doors. In a statement James and the team said..."I regret to inform you that the service will be shutting down in the New Year. Its been a fun ride over the last 2 years;...

RoverPC M1 – Russia gets a Smartphone too

This afternoon I took a trip across to Russia, wait.. perhaps it was a disused military base in the UK. Either way, I found this RoverPC M1 Smartphone. It's even got a "Çåðêàëî äëÿ àâòîïîðòðåòíîé ñú¸ìêè", which I think is...

Bad news – The M3000 is DEFINITELY not coming to the UK

OK so first up today a bit of bad news. I'm sure you'll all remember our campaign to try and get the Orange SPV M3000 released on Orange UK. o2 are releasing it as the XDA Mini and T-Mobile let us borrow one in the shape of the …

C600 Review Update!

Nearly done! Gimme another few hours. Sorry about this. I've been taking a day or two off to do some much-needed Christmas shopping and house-related stuff, so everything has been on pause. I've also got around 230 emails to respond to, so apologies a...

Something a little different this Friday

We're building up a reputation for bringing you fun stuff every Friday. This week is a little different, but it's still rather excellent indeed. It all started when Mark Lee emailed in to say that he had some MP3's for the unsigned artists section of ...

Splashblog – New version

Just a quick note about my photo blog. It's now had a bit of a move and is being hosted on Splashblog.com along with the CoolSmartPhone User Blog and my gadget blog. Don't forget, if you want to turn your Smartphone camera shots into an instant online...

Mio A701 comes to Europe

After their earlier story, online tabloid TheRegister is reporting that the Mio A701 handset, with Windows Mobile 5.0 and in-built GPS unit, will be available in ajust a couple of weeks. Loaded with a 520Mhz Processor and 1 Mega pixel camera the A701 ...

Orange Calling Tunes

Jon Pewtner has emailed in about a new feature on Orange. They've recently introduced a new feature called "Orange Calling Tunes". This allows callers to hear a funky musical ringing tone over the top of the usual, "ring ring" tone. Plus you can even ...

Orange Netherlands Launch the M3000 and C600

Orange Netherlands have officially announced the launch of the Orange SPV C600 and much sought-after Orange SPV M3000 in the today. Although we knew they were launched already, this is confirmation from Orange Netherlands themselves that they are to l...

Teddyfone – A mobile for four-year-olds?

What's this ? A teddy bear ? Well yes, but it's also a mobile phone. This cute device has been causing quite a stir on news sites today because it's aimed squarely at children. There's no screen or ringtone uploads here, which is a good thing. There's...

Podcast 15 Online!

Here it is, Podcast number 15 from CoolSmartPhone.com. Recorded just a few hours so it's still piping hot, even if the weather outside wasn't! Link - CoolSmartPhone Podcast 15

So, how did you lose that mobile phone?

We ran a story last week asking you guys to send in your "how I lost my phone" stories. We had stacks. Unfortunately we also had a lot of, "How I didn't really lose my phone, but swindled the insurance to get a new one" stories, which I've …

Our Podcasts ARE coming back!

Aha! At last I've managed to get myself a new microphone, so the CoolSmartPhone Podcasts should soon be back in full swing! Er.. well, hopefully. This is my car at 1.30 this afternoon. Normally I do Podcasts whilst driving home - it's just a matter o...

HTC clarify HSPDA stance

HTC have confirmed to The Register that High Speed Data Packet Access (HSDPA) handsets are on the 2006 roadmap. HTC President Peter Chou said that HSDPA support should be available for "The second half of next year" and that integrated GPS technology ...

Editorial: Sorry Orange 3G, I was wrong..

I have a confession to make. About a year ago I tested the Sony Ericsson Z1010 on the Orange 3G network just a week before Orange 3G was launched. It was terrible - not just the phone, that alone was bad enough - it would freeze half-way through …

Your Photo Blog – Overhauled .. and now fixed!!

Last week we mentioned the launch of Splashblog onto the Smartphone. It's a free piece of software that lets you get your photos on the web quickly and easily. Well, that got me thinking about the "Your Blog" feature and how it could be improved. Than...

o2 and Orange pushing Windows Mobile Power

After seeing both the o2 and Orange November / December catalogues it's looking decidedly good for Windows Mobile devices. In the o2 brochure there's confirmation of our earlier story with the o2 XDA Mini S being advertised (that's the HTC Wizard - th...

Eten M600 goes live with European Distributor

Distributor Shaston AG have announced that they will be responsible for pushing the new Eten M600 out across Europe. The device can now be shipped directly after being ordered through the Eten.com website. The English, French and German versions of th...

I’m totally on the ball me..

I was out shopping the other day and spotted about 10 people with Windows Smartphones. Fair play to all of you in Cheshire Oaks, you've got taste. It's a bit of a shame that you didn't recognise me, but then - I don't like getting hassled for autograp...

Downer!

A few bits of bad news today. Firstly, it looks like we'll have to wait even longer for the Samsung i300 Smartphone. Paul has emailed in has mailed in after noticing this on the o2.co.uk website. Originally this was scheduled for an October release, b...

o2 Puts the pedal to the metal

o2 has announced that it is to roll out HSDPA by Q3 next year (2006). Woahoa! Stop. What is HSPDA ? Well, I had a look on the internet and found this explanation.. "HSPDA works by moving important processing functions closer to the air interface. Alt...

Cingular 8125 approaches

In the USA Sprint are already selling the PPC 6700 handset. It's made by HTC and called the "Apache" and is the CDMA version of the HTC Wizard, which is sold in Europe as the T-Mobile MDA Vario, Orange SPV M3000 etc. Well, now there's more information...

The real cost of roaming with a data card

Considering Europe is now in theory one big happy family it still shocks me how much we're charged for going abroad. For example, if I got in the car now and drove to the EuroTunnel I could be in Paris in a couple of hours. However, I'll get …

T-Mobile UK have the SDA II on sale

Crickey, I never spotted this. It looks like T-Mobile UK have started selling the new SDA II aswell! We, like many other websites, didn't know anything about this - mainly because T-Mobile UK never tell us. Come on guys! Speak! We don't bite! ;) If yo...

o2 Atom on show

Thanks to Frits for pointing this o2 Atom information and at threegmobile.net. There's also stack of real pictures of the device which can be seen by clicking on the thumbnails. O2 showed off the Atom in Hong Kong during a new customer service centre ...

T-Mobile MDA Pro hits Stuff’s Top 10

Stuff Magazine have just announced their Cool List for 2005 featuring the 10 most desirable gadgets known to man. The Stuff Cool List isn’t just a celebration of cutting-edge tech – it’s almost like a Gadget Oscars. At number 5 in these Oscars i...

Podcast 14 now online

Only a week since the last one! Wow, that's like - almost regular isn't it? In this Podcast I talk about our campaign to get the M3000 into the UK plus news on the release of the Orange C600, the Orange C500 update, the Motorola Q video and …

News from the front – getting that M5000

As you'll know already the Orange SPV M5000 is now available to purchase. Well, sort-of. At the moment it's in pretty limited numbers and available to larger stores only. Also, it appears that only new customers are able to get one at present. However...

Eten M600 Reviewed

Sebastian Mandrean has emailed in from sphone.se He's put the first full review of the new E-TEN M600, which should be sold in the USA by Torq (remember them? They also took the Eten M500 and branded it the Torq P100). At present the Sphone review is...

Orange Launch the SPV C600 and M3000!

Yes, we're the first site to bring you news on the official launch of two new Orange handsets. Orange UK have just contacted us to announce the launch of the Orange SPV C600 Smartphone and the Orange SPV M3000 Pocket PC-style phone. Both are compatibl...

Smartphone sales rise

It looks like smartphones are outselling PDA's quite considerably. According to this Register story, which states that there's a massive fall in PDA sales with smartphone shipments up a massive 75%. However, we are talking all smartphones, not just W...

Motorola Q Video

Mobile Gadget News have picked up on this video of the Motorola Q. Bonnie Cha from CNet.com shows off the handset at CTIA. You can see just how thin the "RAZR-like" handset is and how sharp the screen is too. We're hoping that this does well. Motorola...

T-Mobile MDA Pro Now Selling in our shop

I've been over to our friends at the CoolSmartPhone handset shop and bribed them with beer to give you guys even more deals on Windows Mobile phones. Luckily they like their beer and we've managed to bag you some excellent deals - this time it's the T...