Category: General

Cycling glasses with a HUD. Meet Raptor.

Over the last few years I’ve become one of those Lycra-clad cyclists. It all started because I was basically getting out of breath running up the stairs and suddenly I figured, “Wait, that can’t be good”. A few weeks later I’d got myself a cheap mountain bike and …

Social Media Stress – Go Offline

We’ve actually received an email about a new book. Yes, a book. It’s all about detoxing from the constant barrage of social media updates and the intrusion of the online world into your personal time. Called “Offline“, the book has already sparked a bit of debate by revealing …

Making your home a smarter home

Remember the old Apple commercials that came out to promote the release of the first iPhones? The slogan was, “There’s an app for that!” Nowadays, if you have your own home, there truly is an app for nearly everything you could want or need. Today I decided to …

America rises up – Sports Betting about to explode?

Since May 14th 2018, seven US States have entered the sports betting market. For such a long time, Las Vegas has been inextricably linked to gaming, but after the US Supreme Court overturned the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, there’s about to be a big rise …

Deal – Plusnet drop SIM only plans

Plusnet Mobile have released some new 12 month and 30-day SIM only plans. Now, according to what we’re hearing, these offers will only be available for a very brief time. These have just gone live on their site and, if you take advantage of these offers, you’ll be …

Another electric scooter incoming

Last year we took a look at the Zap i300. It’s an all-electric scooter from a British company and prices start at £5,250. The cheapest version has a 5kg battery which charges fast and should see you go for 35 miles. Now another company, Etergo, has secured a …

The all-new Huawei P Smart 2019. Get it from Vodafone now.

Costing just £219 on Pay As You Go or for £25 a month on a Vodafone Red Extra Plan (1GB data, no upfront cost), this is a cheap and yet really very smart handset. The new 2019 version has a dewdrop notch 6.21″ 2340 x 1080 pixel (19.5:9) …

EE get ready for the new Samsung Galaxy

With the “smartphone plateau” definitely kicking in for Apple and now Samsung too, there’s an eagerness to keep consumers looking to the next big launch of a smartphone. Today EE have added the below tweet and have added a registration page, where you can get the latest updates …

LG Announce a new rolled-up TV

Your TV takes up a sizeable portion of your room. Sure, you can stick the thing on your wall, but it’s still going to be stuck up there and you can’t really do much about hiding it. Now, however, LG have created a solution.. a rolled-up TV. In …

We’re going to review a mind-controlled drone!

Welcome again to 2019 then, and this year we’re going to hopefully be starting things off with a review of this, a mind-controlled drone. Yes, a drone that you can control with your mind! The device, by the looks of it, is a fairly normal-looking drone, however the …

Galaxy Note 9 – Review

Specs: Review Price: £899 6.4-inch Super AMOLED HDR display Snapdragon 845/Exynos 9810 12-megapixel variable aperture main camera, 12-megapixel secondary 2x zoom camera 6GB/8GB RAM 128GB/512GB storage 4000 mAh battery Android 8.1 S Pen w/ Bluetooth Good Points: Absolutely gorgeous screen Fantastic battery life Build quality Loads of features …

Anker Soundcore Life 2 Headphones – Review

I am quite fortunate to have a couple of pairs of Bluetooth headphones in my collection and use them in different scenarios. However recently I have been finding that one of the sets that I have are uncomfortable when I am wearing them for long periods of time. …

Your phone is filthy, Let PhoneSoap clean it – Review

We all use our phones as fundamental tools in our day to day lives, and most of us will clean them from time to time. However, cleaning the visible dirt is only half the battle as there is also the microbial “dirt” that is always present on our phones. …

Essential Phone Discontinued.

News has arrived here at Coolsmartphone Towers, that according to Essential’s website and other stores that typically sell the Essential Phone, the device was showing up as “sold out.” ‘Strange,’ we thought, ‘maybe the Essential phone has had an upsurge in popularity’, but no. Essential has confirmed the …

EZVIZ introduce ezWireless CCTV kit and analogue ‘Everyday’ and ‘Crispr’ wired CCTV kits

We covered EZVIZ the other day in relation to their new security camera, but they have also launched ezWireless CCTV kit and analogue ‘Everyday’ and ‘Crispr’ wired CCTV kits. The EzWireless CCTV kit is available from Very and Rymans from £399.99 whilst the analogue kits are available from Rymans and Toolstation from £198.98. All of the kits are weatherproof (IP66), …

The Coolsmartphone Christmas Message

People of the world, I’ve been doing this for almost 17 years now. Writing about smartphones started as a mad hobby and has slowly taken over my life. I have the privilege of talking to you lovely lot though, and that does tend to keep me going 🙂 …

New experimental Vodafone store opens on Oxford Street

If you’re in London for some last-minute Christmas shopping, try the new Vodafone store on Oxford Street. It’s got everything from a Work hub area for business customers plus interactive zones and repairs for software and hardware problems. Nick Jeffery (CEO of Vodafone UK) helped open the new …

Santa flies in, powered by Vodafone

Yes, Santa is about to unload his sack down your chimney. However, there’s also a smaller Vodafone Santa flying around, and he’s powered by 4G! This is the Santa Drone, and he’s flown via a 4G link. This means that the drone can fly much further than ever …

When drones do good

Think of drones and you’ll usually think of someone flying one too close to an airport or crashing into your garden after somehow flying out of the local park. Now though, you’re also likely to see them being put to better use in more useful tasks. Our local …

Reviewing a whole bunch of Anker chargers

I am on the constant search for power in the form of transferring electrons from one device to another. This has now got the point where I am actually running my car on electrons (that is for another day!). I am also now following a new mantra for my …

Fancy a quick game of Pachinko?

Wait, what is pachinko ? Yeah, not many people outside of Japan have heard about it. However, you probably will have heard about pinball, and this is a vertical version. In Japan there’s traditionally been mechanical and noisy machines which use balls which are smaller than Western pinball …

Nissan want me to test drive their new GT-R

Yeah, so two phone calls this morning. One from Nissan wanting me to test-drive this thing, then another from Theresa May shouting, “I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO” whilst crying hysterically. Then, after a lie down, I suddenly realised that I’d added Baileys to my coffee and none …

Vodafone expanding coverage with manholes

If you’re looking to grow your mobile coverage you’d traditionally think of large mobile masts, right? We have a love / hate relationship with these things, and our mast finder article has been inundated with people trying to find out where their most local mast is. Sadly, there’s …

The Elderly are becoming more tech-savvy with smartphones

On a recent train journey to London I had a rather heart-warming experience whilst sat next to a group of elderly ladies. They had a paper map, stuck together, and were planning their day trip to the city. They happily discussed where to go, what to see first …

O2 seeking millions in damages from Ericsson

After a pretty terrible outage, it’s become painfully apparent how much we all rely on mobile data. Customers on O2 will receive compensation but O2 / Telefonica are also seeking compensation from the people who caused the problem – Ericsson. According to The Telegraph there’s a damages bill …

O2 Outage compensation on the way

So, yesterday someone at Ericsson forgot to renew a certificate. This caused O2, giffgaff, Tesco Mobile, Sky and Lycamobile customers to lose all internet connectivity and there was some severe red faces as the O2 network ended up on the front pages of newspapers and websites for all …

(LIVE) No O2 for you too? Network problems continue to rumble on.

If you’re using an O2 mobile today then, well, you probably won’t be able to read this … not unless you’re on WiFi. Since 5.30 this morning there’s been major problems with connectivity, which O2 are blaming on a third party software issue. Up to 32 million UK …

Pixel 3 – Review

I thought that I would always need a large screen phone, but this has changed my mind. Good Points: Great haptic feedback (really does feel like buttons are being pressed) Amazing camera Feels great in the hand Excellent front-facing dual stereo speakers Gorgeous screen Just runs so well …

Amazon Launchpad – Great Gadget Gift Ideas

Looking for gift ideas this Christmas? Yeah you are. Admit it, if you’re anything like me you won’t have even started buying stuff. So, before the panic sets in, here’s a list of stuff that could spark your interest. It’s all part of the Amazon Launchpad gadget range, …

4 Smartphone accessories to make your drive safer

The majority of people admit to using their smartphone at least occasionally while driving. We’ll say it’s “only for a quick check” of messages or to enter a postcode in whilst navigating. We can probably admit to playing music or checking calendar appointments. We know we shouldn’t be …

Trying to save for my next smartphone

Just recently we had the madness that was Black Friday. In truth, it’s no longer just one day. Instead we’re seeing offers last for a bit longer, and even the “Cyber Week” has grown to last until mid-December now. This year there were some great deals on smartphones …

Vodafone launch a new reward scheme – VeryMe Rewards

Getting little treats like free cinema tickets, cheap meals or a coffee can be a great way to keep you a happy mobile customer. Anyone remember “Orange Wednesdays” back in the day? That proved popular and other networks, like O2 with their Priority scheme and Three with Wuntu, …

Trying to save for a new phone

So, as you’ll know, I smashed my last phone in quite a spectacular way. It fell out of an open-sided bus and I’m still trying to find someone clever to actually repair the thing, or at least get the precious photos of it that I took (and sadly …

And another £1000 !

In my earlier article I should’ve also mentioned that Bournemouth Hospital Charity have also been awarded a £1,000 from Vodafone. Their Bournemouth store team chose the deserving cause. Bournemouth Hospital Charity helps with care and treatment for patients in the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals. Through their charity …

And the Vodafone Community Connection Award goes to…

Vodafone is dishing out cash to worthy causes via their “Community Connection Awards”. It’s designed to support and highlight worthy causes in the communities surrounding the Vodafone stores across the land. The network has invited clubs, causes and groups to apply to win an award. All they need …

The landline and text messaging. Both officially dying.

A weirdly intriguing set of stats from Ofcom have just landed and it confirms a lot of our suspicions regarding how people live and work with mobile technology. First, let’s have a look at the amount of outgoing calls that people are making from that funny phone-shaped object …

How clean is your phone?

The answer that despite our best efforts is going to be not very. In fact research has suggested that the average persons phone is dirty that a toilet seat! Add this to the fact that a lot of us will now use our phones when we are doing …