Category: General

A walk-around from MWC Shanghai

My final bit of coverage from MWC Shanghai is a walk around the show halls. The venue itself is nearly purpose built for hosting large scale events, of which MWC Shanghai has ambitions to become one of the bigger events that the Shanghai International New Expo Centre (SINEC) …

Filming a concert? Yeah, don’t go mad with that

If you’ve been to Glastonbury or a big concert recently, you’ll have noticed the eagerness of some to capture the moment. Some go to extremes – filming entire songs and suppressing their own enjoyment so that they can hold their precious phone stock-steady instead. It can look strange …

How to download Pokémon Go on Android in the UK now

OK. It’s turned into a dream for the PR company this one. Everybody seems to be talking about it, even here in the UK where you can’t actually download the thing just yet. Pokémon has returned and the ’90s have come back too (Robot Wars was on TV …

Tesco puts a Rocket in your pocket

Want 4G data on Pay As You Go? Tesco Mobile is going to deliver with their new “Rocket Packs”. They’ve been announced just weeks after the virtual mobile network announced a money-saving scheme which reduces mobile bills if you watch some ads. Now they’re offering 4G data on …

EE TV – On test

The boys from BT.. sorry, EE.. sent me one of their clever TV boxes recently. You can’t just go out and buy one of these things, you have to have an EE Broadband package too. There’s full details here. You basically plug this into your rooftop aerial and …

Controlling my home from my phone

We’ve seen a number of companies approaching us lately who want us to promote their smart gadgets. A lot of these gadgets now relate to the “Internet of Things” or a “Smart Home”. Whilst they’re all great, you can find that they’re a little disjointed – using their …

Vodafone help you keep in touch while you get drunk

Honestly, at times I despair. Vodafone think that I’m going to post an article on this site purely because they’ve mentioned the words “beer” and “pub” in their press release. Disgraceful. I do like beer though. I like pubs too. Gahh… they’ve got me. OK, short version. You …

Lumsing Quick Charge 2.0 USB Desktop Charger offer ending soon

Today, as you’ll know from our earlier news item, is Amazon Prime Day. There’s deals a-plenty over there and we’ve already detailed a number of them. In addition, we’ve got to let you know that our deal on the Lumsing 5-port desktop charger that we reviewed last month …

Get on your back. Let me put this on your face.

Where do I start with this one? The picture alone is enough to give you an idea of the madness. It’s a “Cardboard Home Cinema” and, because it’s not the actual size of a real cinema, you basically lie on the floor and stare at your phone. Yeah. …

Amazon Prime Day is today

Amazon Prime Day, the day of deals exclusively for members of Amazon Prime, is today. Amazon Prime already gives you great benefits, like Amazon Prime Music streaming service, Amazon Instant Video with quite a selection of movies and TV shows as well as free next day delivery on …

Get BT Sport for free on EE

So it begins. With BT firmly in charge of the EE ship, we’re now seeing the first push to offer BT services on the network. Soon it’ll no doubt be BT supplied TV, home broadband and home phone instead of the current EE equivalents. Until then, we’ve got …

LeEco Le Max 2 unboxing – MWC Shanghai

As you may know, I was recently out in Shanghai and I was lucky enough to be given a Le Max 2 from LeEco for me to use as my own phone. So in the way of a true tech blogger, I decided  I would share the unboxing …

Vodafone – 10GB SIM-only for just £11.59 per month

I’ve reached the end of an EE SIM-only deal that I took out last year. It should’ve been £20.99 but I managed to get it down to £16.99 per month for 4GB of data and enough minutes to keep me waffling to the missus. However, that deal is …

The Beast is out!

Last week we told you about the fantastic Iron Maiden game, Legacy of the Beast. The wait is over! The game now be download from Google Play and Apple iTunes official from now (5th July, 4pm BST). James Hursthouse, CEO of Roadhouse Interactive comments, “As a lifelong Maiden fan, I …

A blast from the past.. a Gionee Flip Phone – MWC Shanghai

Whilst I was walking through the halls of MWC Shanghai I came across the Gionee booth. We’ve had some dealing with Gionee before on the site including a demo in Barcelona. They also brought a couple of phones to the UK under the Kazam brand. Unfortunately that partnership …

Remix Pro 2 in 1 Hands on – MWC Shanghai

Jide Tech recently announced that they were making a follow up to the Remix Ultra Tablet. This was funded through Kickstarter last year. I was very lucky to find one if these devices at MWC Shanghai on the Qualcomm booth. The device I found was all setup for …

Curve, One Card To Rule Them All – Review

If you carry more than one payment card, you need Curve. Curve combines all your cards into a single card controlled with an app on your smartphone. The London based team behind Curve wanted to transform the way we manage and spend our money and set up at …

ZTE Axon 7 hands on – MWC Shanghai

They only announced that this would be available the other day, but us being eager beavers here at Coolsmartphone (and with me being in Shanghai), I thought it would be worth a visit to ZTE. Before we get into that though let’s see what this thing is all …

Phones that will revolutionise mobile gaming

Every year mobile gaming becomes more involved and sophisticated with new games, better ways to play them and even greater connectivity with friends through social media. And, as this march of progress continues, the technology to play the games on moves forward too. At the forefront of these …

Tesla self-drive car involved in fatal accident

Whilst the likes of Google are testing out fully automated vehicles, there’s a selection of cars out on the road now that’ll add a certain degree of “self driving” tech. Normally, the system works on major highways / motorways and, by taking note of the lane markers and …

666 is the Legacy of the Beast!

For those lucky few who caught our live broadcast last week, you will know we have had a copy of Legacy of the Beast. This is a game dedicated to the British music legends, Iron Maiden. The game celebrates every single album by taking you through worlds based on …

Note 7 Iris scanner rumour looks more promising

According to the inter-web rumours, the next iteration of the Note series the Note 6…sorry the Note 7 (I don’t know either), is rumoured to have an iris scanner.  Now it appears that this latest rumour may have a bit more substance,m and good old leaker @onleaks (who has a …

Emojis – Even I’m using them now

There was a time, not too long ago, when I’d be pretty annoyed at using an emoji. My wife loves them, but when she sent me a text message my phone wouldn’t be able to understand it and I’d just get a stack of question marks where the …

Cash machine skimmer found on video

Bit weird this. It’s perhaps not something I’d film, but Benjamin Tedesco managed to find something a bit weird on a cash machine whilst on holiday in Vienna. He was filming, in portrait for some reason, and then decided to film himself going to the ATM. I know. …

HP 11 Chromebook – now with Touch

Those of you that are regular readers of this fantastic site, know that a number of the staff use Chromebooks, including my own self. I am currently using the Asus Chromebook Flip, which now allows me to use Play Store Apps natively, which I can only describe as …

Evernote reduces free users to only two devices

A post on the Evernote site posted on Monday 28th June states that Evernote Basic, the free tier from Evernote, will be limited to only two devices. This accompanies a price change for the paid levels, with Evernote Plus now costing £29.99 per year and Evernote Premium £44.99 …

Google changing the smartphone game

The Telegraph in the UK have reported that Google are looking in producing their own smartphone. This is different to what we have been used to as the Android creators previously left the manufacturing to other huge names like Samsung, HTC and so on. We also have the Google …

Puridea Bluetooth Speaker, Power Bank and Bike light – Review

Yes, I agree with you. That is a weird combination of features. This is indeed a bike light which is also a Bluetooth speaker and … a portable charger for your phone. All those things in one unit isn’t normally something you’ll see wrapped up in one unit, …

Urbanista new earbuds to appeal to young urban folk

Last week, Swedish designers Urbanista launched a new design of earbud with a new mosaic pastel colour design from a very cheap £19. Perfect for music lovers that want a patterned earphone that complements their summer style, the Urbanista San Francisco’s graphic print is reminiscent of the beautiful …

WhatsApp have hit 100 million calls a day

After scrapping the annual fee for WhatsApp, the application has gone from strength to strength. Most recently the Facebook-owned WhatsApp has launched desktop versions of the popular phone application for Windows and Macs. Last week on the WhatsApp blog, they announced that users were making 100 million calls …

EXCLUSIVE – Yes, yes. The OnePlus 3 IS coming to O2

So, while I was mourning the loss of our Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (it’s only lasted a week and there seems to be some issue with the graphics driver), I received another email. It was from our mysterious, but trusted, source. The same one who mentioned that the …

Good Morning World. This is Great Britain calling.

Is this thing on? Are we still here? Europe? Are you still there? Are our European servers still on? Are we all still friends? Sorry about all that guys. Everything went a bit mad there for a moment. Our money is worth less now, the markets are in …

Reolink HD IP Security Camera – Video overview

Remember the all-weather fixed security camera I reviewed the other day? The Reolink IP camera will fix to your wall or roof and points at your driveway, your garden, your warehouse or inside your property and you can view the images and video anywhere in the world via …

Doosl FM Transmitter – Review

I’ve been sent an FM transmitter again. It’s one of those ones you’ll find on Amazon with a rather long and confusing name. The full description for this £13 gadget is (wait for it)… “FM Transmitter, Doosl® 3.5mm FM Transmitter Radio Adapter Hands-free Calling Wireless Radio Car Kit, …

Wraps Headphones – Review

Remember the Wraps Wearable Headphones we mentioned recently? OK, so it was a bitdaft to call them “wearable” because of course, all headphone sare. However, these wrap around your wrist when they’re not in use, so you effectively turn them into a bracelet / bangle when they’re not …