Category: General
I tried out the Microsoft Band and Band 2. I was quite impressed but sadly there’ll be no third version. A few weeks ago Thurrott reported that the future of Microsoft Band looked less than promising. Let’s face it, Microsoft tried to do the “hardware thing” and failed …
It’s a familiar pattern for folks in the industry. Rumours regarding the next big smartphone release begin to take shape – usually a year or so before the product unveiling. Designers and manufacturers of third party accessories get to work on finding out whatever they can regarding the …
There’s two types of people in this world. The first type will put a cover on their phone and they’ll keep it in mint condition. Even when they trade the thing in, it’ll look brand new. The second category is reserved for people like myself, who often find …
It’s that time of year again the lull between the iPhone launch and the Google phone launch. It is during this time that we normally see a few other smaller scale players have announcements in time for the holiday season. One such company is Huawei (who are by …
Following on the recent news of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 batteries catching fire, it appears that one of Apple’s latest flagships suffered the same fate. This time, it was the time for the iPhone 7, which exploded whilst being delivered to its new owner, according to the Reddit user who …
Are you an “OK Google” superuser? To be honest, I’m not. I keep forgetting that it’s there, but today Google has announced an update to the Google Maps app which I think that I will use and be an extremely useful addition. “OK Google” and voice commands …
Those of you who follow us on Twitter can look away now. Indeed, if you’re a regular visitor then you really don’t need to read this story, because this is something we told you about way back in June. Our readers knew all about the OnePlus 3 arriving …
Over the last few weeks, I have been in the fortunate position to play host to some very cool charging tech from Anker. Anker is a company that has been providing power solutions to the mobile warrior for quite some time now, and they have some truly awesome kit …
It’s now time for another article about someone doing something stupid to a brand new iPhone 7. They’re hoping that they’ll get enough YouTube clicks so that they can get enough revenue to replace the phone that they’re just about to break. I know… this whole internet thing …
As Coolsmartphone Podcast Listeners probably realised, there is a slight difference of opinion within the team on the whole issue of how Samsung have performed over the Overheating Galaxy Note 7 issue and associated product recall. Judging by my Twitter timeline today, it looks like it’s not just …
We often highlight microSD cards, but it’s not often that we get one which is quite as large as this one. A massive 200GB of additional storage thanks to this SanDisk card, and it’s been reduced to £59.99. Whilst that still might seem like quite a bit of …
Well, these earbuds are certainly the most colourful earbuds I have tested so far. Leigh had another version earlier in Summer to play with. The new Rainbow edition is a limited edition of the Wraps series of earbuds. The Rainbow edition will match the specifications of the current …
These things have been around for a while if I’m honest, but they appear to have popped up in the news recently and I’ve had an email from a guy called Michael about it. So that’s good enough for me. Available on several “iffy” eBay listings like this, …
KooPower have been in touch again and, following on from the wireless doorbell we reviewed, we now have 12 metres of LED fairy lights. Now, I’ve had these in the back garden for quite a while as I honestly thought that they wouldn’t work. Why? Well, solar powered …
Whilst Yahoo! isn’t as big as it once was, there’s a lot of Yahoo! Mail users out there and, worse still, this is a data breach which dates back to 2014. Details of 500 million users are now in the wild, including names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates …
OK, story so far then. We’re all fairly familiar with the “bill shock” that comes with a trip across a local border here in Europe. Take a short trip on the Eurostar and your phone suddenly costs a whole lot more to use than it does back home. …
Remember the Ouya console ? Well, this little device lets you do something similar and then some. You plug it into your TV and share your Android screen, watch YouTube, show your pictures and videos from a USB stick too. There’s a stack of additions on this, some …
Well, isn’t this just my dream thing? Recently I went to a “certain” furniture store here in the UK (y’know, the one that has a permanent sale on) and I was actually quite surprised with the amount of sofas that plug into the mains. However, having a big …
I’ll come right out and say it, I have a problem! My problem is phone cases; no matter which device I’m using I always end up purchasing a multitude of cases, in the various styles, slip, rugged, flip, TPU and so on. It just seems that putting my device …
Gaming is having to push new boundaries to find untapped potential, the latest consoles give us incredible visuals, the Wii gave us physical interaction, Pokemon Go took gaming our into the wild, and VR brought the wild to us. The latest gaming technology brought to my attention is Emotionally …
Google has recently announced a new app that helps you sort all your travel plans. It’s a free app, and available both on Android & iOS. What with it being a travel app and all, it comes with an offline mode, allowing you to download all the info you …
Every day at around 2PM I get a call from The Claims Guys on 01212774003. They’re continually chasing me about a PPI claim that I have no intention of following up on. They drive me insane. I’ve told them around six times that I’m not interested, I’ve told …
I tell you what you need. You need a desk phone that plugs into your smartphone somehow. Perhaps one that let’s you use those traditional numeric keys to make a call and a normal corded headset too. Sounds a bit bizarre doesn’t it? Well, look at it this …
Allo yes, this post may have the worst title but I couldn’t help it. Back at the Google I/O Developers Conference in May, they announced two new applications, Duo and Allo. The Duo app was released about a month ago, which is the simple video chatting application if you’ll recall, and …
No, I didn’t know there was such a thing either, but apparently it is a “thing”. To be honest though, after a bit of reading, I became quite interested. A carry-on suitcase that is water resistant, scratch resistant and has GPS and 3G technology built in? Remote and …
Well, they took their time, but it’s happened – Android Pay now works for NatWest customers. We heard reports from a couple of our readers that they received an email from NatWest to announce that Android users can finally use Google Pay at tills and checkouts across the …
Go to a market or a car boot sale and you’ll no doubt be familiar with the gentle chug of a diesel generator. It could be inflating a bouncy castle or it could be providing the electric for the butty van which is nearly always selling burgers which …
British motoring association, the RAC, has carried out a survey of motorists. It’s revealed some rather worrying results. The number of motorists illegally using mobile phones while at the wheel is rising. After surveying 1,714 UK motorists it found… 31% of motorists says they used a handheld phone …
Amazon Echo, the digital assistant, is coming to the UK and Germany this autumn. Hurrah! What is an Amazon Echo you ask? It’s a speaker with microphone that connects to the internet, over WiFi, and has the Amazon Alexa service built in. Amazon Alexa is Amazon’s digital assistant. …
Back in January, Leigh reviewed devolo’s dLAN 1200+ WiFi ac Powerline adapter and now I got the chance to review the 550 starter pack. The dLAN 500 WiFi is an upgrade of devolo’s current mid-high range offering, the dLAN 500 WiFi. While continuing to offer Powerline transmission speeds of …
With inexpensive handsets entering the market from the likes of OnePlus, WileyFox and co, the proposition of entering a SIM only contract is far more appealing to your pocket as oppose to signing up to 24-month handset contracts. Recently my 24-month contract ended on EE but I have …
When I read the press release for this Kickstarter campaign for udoq it was hard to get excited about a docking station. However, I was impressed (from the video at least) of the build quality and it didn’t look like just another Chinese plastic stand. The docking station is designed …
Another set of new cases! FLAVR, by STRAX GmbH, launched a brand new range yesterday of “hot, bold and eclectic” (according to the press release!) phones cases for iPhone 5/5SE, 6/6S, 7, 7 Plus and Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. The new cases will be available for £9.99 from …
I love the Dog & Bone brand, there is something stereotypically Austrailian about them and their products. We have covered their products before and typically aimed at the adventurous person, in particular, a surfer person (dude or dudette!). Splash44 case This sleek and fashionable case features a military certified …
In the last few hours lorry driver Danny Warby has been given a six year sentence for crashing into an off duty police officer’s car. The collision killed Det Con Sharon Garrett, aged 48, and caused a five-vehicle crash. A police investigation revealed that Mr Warby was speeding …
Get yourself a drink Lumia fans. Turn the lights down. This is the end, my only friend, the end… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSUIQgEVDM4 News from WinBeta and elsewhere seems to confirm it. The Lumia range is dead. An anonymous employee states that Microsoft is about to “end sales” of the range …
…or why I’m finally all-in on a paid Evernote subscription (at least for this year). It has taken just over five years to convince me, and within this time I have quit a long-term job and joined, left, then re-joined the CoolSmartPhone team. Also, for the last 5 …
I pointed it out after the announcement but, if I’m being honest, it’s not going to be a massive deal-breaker for most iPhone owners. See, I can understand to some degree because Apple give you just a single USB-C port in the MacBook Pro. It looks neat, it …
Laptop PC sales are falling, tablet sales are dropping, and even the might smartphone is plateauing. Wearables have been a bit of a damp squib, and VR is just starting out. In the midst of all this, one area does seem to be (anecdotally at least) doing well… …
Cygnett wasted no time in their press releases: As soon as the new iPhone 7 was announced, they followed up with their new cases range. “We’ve created a line of cases that perfectly compliment Apple’s latest products in design and versatility while still providing the highest quality products …
